


Colloquialism

by gwendee



Series: Emmitt [1]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But in like a platonic sense, Canon Compliant Events, Crack Treated Seriously, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Rare Pairings, The Author Regrets Nothing, These characters have literally never met in canon, let me have this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:27:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26010379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendee/pseuds/gwendee
Summary: [Reaper] (Photo Attachment)[Gakushuu] IS THAT A DEAD BODY?[Reaper] Oh shit[Reaper] Fuck[Reaper] Delete thatHot take: Reaper 2.0 and Gakushuu would get along. Their supposed main father figure did not do them too well when they were children, both perfectionists and dramatic to a tee, tried to murder aforementioned guardian at least once (ideological murder counts).
Relationships: Asano Gakushuu & God of Death (Assassination Classroom)
Series: Emmitt [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903867
Comments: 426
Kudos: 497





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, it's Gwen!  
> So, you might have clicked onto this and thought: what the fuck is this? Hear me out, let me explain.
> 
> Gakuhou Asano, a man who put far too unrealistic expectations on his son and treated him like a pawn in his power game, only to ultimately have said son turn on him. Koro-sensei, same dynamic, his disciple Reaper 2.0. Picture this: the two kids, but they get along.  
> That's it, that's the fic.
> 
> I first mentioned this to ao3 in the end notes of chapter 41 of my recent multichapter, Kunugigaoka knows. I had this fic written since about June, so you can expect quick updates (I highly doubt I would rewrite anything so whatever you read here? That's June Gwen talking. I wouldn't have extreme emotional stakes here, this is just a fun, lighthearted fic with, you know, the occasional counts of murder talk as per canon. 
> 
> I would like to thank Skye, for who without this fic would not exist, the concept having emerged in one of our late-night/early-afternoon (timezones) tumblr chats. AND for a little something else I'd mention in the end notes of chapter 1.  
> I would also liked to thank ObsessedEliza for the title of this fic, Colloquialism. (I should probably break the habit of asking people to throw random words for my fic names without them having a single bit of context... but the names are just so good!)

**A kid fic but for like one chapter before we inevitably progress into a timeskip to reach the beginning of canon**

**Just to kick this off because I don't have a real premise for them actually meeting**

“You’re like, five.”

“I’m ten,” Gakushuu says, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Baby,” White says. He flicks Gakushuu in the forehead and then saunters off. Gakushuu gapes at his back at the audacity, and then follows. 

“Wait for me!” Gakushuu says. 

White stares at him with thinly veiled amusement. “Don’t you have parents?” 

“ ‘s just me and the Principal,” Gakushuu says. “He doesn’t really care about what I do.”

“The principal? What, you live in a school?”

“No, ‘s my dad. I don’t call him that, though,” Gakushuu says. He kicks a stone on the concrete, and it rolls before getting stuck in a crack. White watches him.

“You’re still a baby. He lets you wander around on your own?” 

“I’m ten,” Gakushuu says. “ ‘s busy all the time. As long as I look perfect on the surface, I can do whatever I want.”

“Do you?” White asks.

“I have full marks in all my tests,” Gakushuu says proudly. He looks up at White. “I can solve anything. Ask me something.”

“What’s one plus one?” White asks.

“Two! Ask me something harder!”

“Actually, one plus one equals three,” White says, a smile playing on his lips. “Because two makes a baby.”

“Gross,” Gakushuu laughs. “I can’t write that in a test.”

“You should go home,” White says. 

“Can’t I play with you?” 

“I don’t play,” White says. “I’m not a fun person.”

“Yes you are!” Gakushuu says. “You know all the names of the pretty flowers.”

White stares at him. “That’s a low bar for fun.”

Gakushuu doesn’t say anything about that. Instead he asks, “does your dad not want you to play with me?”

White frowns. “I don’t have a dad.”

“That man you were with,” Gakushuu says. “The one with dark hair.”

“He’s not my dad,” White says. “I already told you, he’s just my teacher.”

“Oh,” Gakushuu says.

“Not everyone calls their parent their teacher,” White tells him.

“I know,” Gakushuu says. He folds his hands behind his head.

“Your dad sucks, doesn’t he,” White says bluntly.

“ ‘s okay,” Gakushuu says. 

White smiles serenely. “You ever want to kill him?”

“What? No!” Gakushuu says, aghast. “He’s my dad!”

“What if someone else killed him?” White asks. “Will you be sad?”

“Yes!” Gakushuu says. His face scrunches up. “He’s my dad!”

“You’re a cute kid,” White says. “Go home, okay?”

Gakushuu looks up at him with wide eyes. “Will you be at the train station tomorrow? Can I come find you again?”

“That’s where you’ve found me for the past three days,” White points out. Gakushuu beams at him. “Why did you come up and talk to me anyways?”

“You seemed like a nice person to talk to,” Gakushuu says. “Principal always says I must practice public and per-sua-sive speaking. He says the best way to do it is to talk to people I don’t know, to learn about what makes them… uh… think things.”

“That’s odd advice,” White says. “Most parents discourage their children from speaking with strangers, let alone approaching them.”

“Maybe,” Gakushuu shrugs. “But I met you, right? You’re a nice person.”

White smiles at him. “I’m the opposite of a nice person.”

“No you’re not! But you’re kinda weird sometimes,” Gakushuu giggles. “Like when you tried sushi.”

“Sushi is weird,” White says. “It’s raw fish on rice.”

“No it’s not,” Gakushuu says. “Oh! I’m supposed to be your tour guide. Have you tried… ramen?”

“That’s just noodles, right?”

“No! It’s different! We can go eat ramen tomorrow after school. Wait for me at the train station, okay?”

“Sure, kid,” White says.

“Are you going to tell me your name now?”

White rolls his eyes, and puts a hand down on Gakushuu’s hair to ruffle it. “No. Now scram.”

\--

“You picked up a little stray.”

“My name’s not stray, it’s Gakushuu Asano,” Gakushuu says, hopping up with a wide grin. Behind him White stands awkwardly. White’s teacher looks down at him, an eyebrow raised.

“Hello, Gakushuu Asano,” White’s teacher says, bending down on a knee so they’re speaking at eye-level. “What business do you have with my little disciple?”

“We’re going to eat ramen today,” Gakushuu says. “I’m his tour guide, because it’s his first time in Japan!”

“Is that so?” White’s teacher says. He looks marginally amused. “You’ve been scouring the streets and you’ve neglected to inform me.”

“Well, you said a quick way to blend into a new place is to mingle among the locals,” White says, crossing his arms.

“So I did,” White’s teacher says, a smile on his lips. He gets back up on his feet. “I won’t be keeping you two any longer. Have fun.”

“He seems nice,” Gakushuu says, when they’re walking towards a ramen shop, and White snorts in derision.

“Trust me, he’s not.”

“Okay,” Gakushuu says easily. 

White blinks. “You won’t dispute that?”

“What does dis-pute mean?”

“Refute. Uh, it means disagree with me.”

“No, you know him,” Gakushuu says. “Everyone also says the Principal is nice.” His voice drops to a whisper, and he leans in conspiratorially. “But trust me, he’s also not so nice.” 

White huffs out a laugh. “Sure.”

“We’re here!” Gakushuu points to a storefront. “You can order anything here. It’s my favorite place, everything here is good.”

“You eat alone a lot?” White says.

“Mhm,” Gakushuu says. “Principal is always busy. Sometimes we eat breakfast together. Not all the time. But I’m going to enroll in his school once I’m 13, so I’ll see him more often!”

“Oh? So he’s a principal of an actual school?”

“Uh huh! It’s called Ku-nu-gi-gao-ka. I’m going to come in first place for everything too.”

“You’re ambitious, aren’t you.”

“Uh huh!”

They get a seat at the ramen store. The owner greets Gakushuu by name, White smiles at them, and they order their meals.

“How is it?” Gakushuu asks eagerly.

“Tastes nice,” White says.

“Yeah?” Gakushuu beams. “Maybe you can bring your teacher here. Has he tried ramen before? Is this also his first time in Japan?”

“I don’t know,” White says. “He traveled a lot, before he met me. It’s likely he’s been here before.”

“Wow. I like travelling. I want to go tons of places when I grow up. What’s his job? How come you guys can travel so much?”

“We just have business all around the world,” White says. 

“So you’re going to leave Japan soon?”

“Yes,” White says. 

“Say goodbye before you leave, okay?” Gakushuu insists. “I don’t have a phone. But tell me before you leave, okay?!”

“Sure,” White humors. “I’ll let you know.” 

“I think my English is becoming better when I talk to you,” Gakushuu says. “If you travel a lot, you must know tons of languages, right? How many do you know?”

“Well…” White thinks, tapping a finger to his chin. “Thirty?”

“Thirty?!” Gakushuu gapes. “Wow! I only know three! Japanese, English, Korean!”

White smirks at him and says something foreign. “French,” he says.

“I’m going to go learn French,” Gakushuu says. “I want to learn tons of languages like you! And be first place in all of them.”

“You can’t be first place in a language,” White says, rolling his eyes. “That’s not how languages work.”

“I’ll just be good enough so that if there was a language competition, I’ll be first,” Gakushuu says, determined. “Don’t you want to be first place, too? Be the best at something?”

“Of course, it’s natural to covet success,” White says.

“What does co-vet mean?”

“It means want.”

“Okay. The Principal is the best at a lot of things. I have to be better and beat him.” Gakushuu crunches on a tempura vegetable. “He always says there’s no point in doing anything if you can’t be the best.”

“Yeah?” White says. “I thought you said you liked your dad?”

“No,” Gakushuu spits out, suddenly sharp, and White startles. “I don’t like him. I’ll be sad if he dies, but I don’t like him.” Then he looks up and glares at White. “I’m only telling you this because I know you don’t like your teacher too. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Okay,” White says, softly. He reaches forward and brushes Gakushuu’s hair. 

\--

“Do you know who Ikeda is?”

Gakushuu looks up, brows furrowed. “Yeah. Do you know him?”

“No,” White says, settling down on the bench. “What happened to your hands?”

They’re wrapped in gauze. “The Principal and I were practicing,” he says. “He was teaching me to fight.” He holds his hands up against the sun, squinting. The bandages climbed all the way up to his elbows. “I punched too hard yesterday. They hurt.”

“They’re not supposed to hurt,” White says. “Why is he teaching you how to fight? You’re like five.”

“I’m ten!” Gakushuu protests. “I need to defend myself. I’m learning martial arts!”

“Your father’s name is Gakuhou Asano, correct?” White says. 

“Yeah,” Gakushuu says. “You know him?”

“I was searching him up,” White says. “I was interested. Who’s Ikeda?”

“He used to be one of the Principal’s students,” Gakushuu says. “He used to come ‘round sometimes. Then he died. Then the Principal became mean and I wasn’t allowed to call him dad anymore.”

“He killed himself,” White says, and Gakushuu looks up. “He jumped off a bridge five years ago.”

“Oh,” Gakushuu says softly. “I know da- the Principal misses him. Sometimes I think he misses Ikeda more than he likes me.”

White pats his head gently. “Yes.”

“Why did you search it up?” Gakushuu asks. He’s not accusing.

“I was curious,” White says. “I wanted to know what kind of person your father was.”

“Oh,” Gakushuu says. 

“You know, my own father used to be like that,” White says. “I absolutely hated him. I wasn’t sad at all when he died.”

“I’m sorry,” Gakushuu says.

“I got picked up by my teacher shortly after,” White says. “I’ve been with him since.”

“So he’s like your step-dad?” Gakushuu says. “But you don't like him. I don’t think he’s doing a good job.”

White barks out a laugh. “He’s really not.” 

“Will you be sad if he died, though?”

“No. People die all the time.”

“I guess,” Gakushuu says, frowning. 

“But it’s normal to be sad when someone you care about dies,” White says. “Like your father with Ikeda.”

“Am I mean if I say I wish he wasn’t sad?” Gakushuu says.

White picks up his little bandaged hands and turns it over in his palms. “I don’t think you are.”

“Thanks,” Gakushuu says. “I’m glad I met you.”

“I won’t be around tomorrow, by the way,” White says. “I’m leaving. My teacher and I will get the job done.”

“Oh!” Gakushuu says. “That’s so fast. You’ve been here a week.”

“Well we’re very efficient,” White says. 

“Then I guess I’ll have to go back to my after school cur-ri-cu-lars,” Gakushuu says. “Principal found out I skipped yesterday’s ones.”

“Is that why he hit you?” White says.

Gakushuu shrugs. 

“You sure you don’t want him to die?”

“No!” Gakushuu protests. “He’s my dad!”

White laughs. “I didn’t mind when my father died.”

“I do,” Gakushuu says. 

“Well, if you change your mind,” White says, “just let me know, okay?”

“What?”

“You want to know a secret?” White says, eyes twinkling.

“...Okay?” Gakushuu says.

White leans closer to him, bringing up a hand up to his mouth. “My teacher and I are contract killers.”

He says it so cold and light and casual that Gakushuu freezes. He looks back up. “Are you joking?”

“Check the news tomorrow,” White says. “A very rich person by the name of Kenji Sayo will be…” He draws a line over his neck.

Gakushuu yelps a little, and fidgets. “...I still think you’re joking.”

“Sure,” White says, smiling. 

“You don’t seem like a…”

“Well, it wouldn’t be very good if I looked like one now, would I?” White says. “Then I wouldn’t be very good at disguise. I’ll be a suspect immediately.”

“...I guess.”

“You scared of me?”

“No! No I’m not,” Gakushuu says, and to make a point he scoots over closer to White. “You’re my friend.”

“Am I?”

“Yes!” Gakushuu says. “We’re friends, right?”

White smiles. “Sure.”

“If you come back to Japan again you’ll come visit, right?” Gakushuu says. 

“Of course,” White says. 

“Are you ever going to tell me your real name?”

“I don’t have a name,” White says. 

“I’ve been calling you White,” Gakushuu says. “Because you have white hair. That’s weird. I want a real name to call you.”

“White?” White’s eyes crinkle at the sides. “Does that mean I call you Blondie?”

Gakushuu pouts, and his hands fly up to cover his head. “No! Because a lot of people have blonde hair. I call you white because not a lot of people have white hair.”

White laughs. “Alright, alright. Well I really don’t have a name. Why don’t you give me one?”

Gakushuu’s eyes grow wide. “Give you a name?”

“Sure,” White says. 

Gakushuu is silent for a moment. He looks down at his hands. “Were you telling the truth just now? When you said you and your teacher were…”

“Yes,” White says.

“Why’d you tell me?” Gakushuu says.

“Because no one would believe you,” White says, and he ruffles Gakushuu's hair. 

“I can’t think of a name,” Gakushuu says. “Can we search a name? On the in-ter-net?”

“Sure,” White says. He pulls out a phone and hands it to Gakushuu, who furrows his brows at it. He searches “names that mean truth” and stares thoughtfully at all the results.

“This one,” Gakushuu says, pointing. “The whole and universal truth. Because you tell me the truth.”

“Emmitt,” White says. “That’s a weird name.”

“Is it?” Gakushuu says. “Sorry!”

“No, it’s fine,” White says. “I kind of like it. Emmitt.”

“Yeah?” Gakushuu says, beaming. “Emmitt!”

“Thank you, Gakushuu,” White says. “Go home now, okay? Stay safe.”

“Okay,” Gakushuu says. He sounds sad. “Promise you’ll visit, okay. I’ll keep your secret.”

“Pinky promise,” White says cheekily. Gakushuu is still a kid after all, and he gleefully takes it.

“Don’t kill my dad,” Gakushuu warns. “I’ll be sad and angry, and then I’ll know it’s you and I won’t be friends with you anymore.”

“Okay,” Emmitt says. “See you soon, Gakushuu.”

\--

On the news the next day, Kenji Sayo is dead. Gakushuu watches the reporter with wide eyes, then runs back up to his room. The day after that a package appears for him in the mail, which the Principal regards with a scrutinizing gaze. There’s only one thing in the box, though, and it’s a bookmark. There’s a note attached to it, signed “Em”, and only after careful inspection does Principal allow Gakushuu to keep it.

Two years after that, Gakushuu enrolls into Kunugigaoka Middle school.

Two years after _that_ , the moon explodes, and shortly after a recruitment call for hitmen is broadcasted. And then another package arrives for Gakushuu Asano in the mail.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you for the interest in this little fic HAHA hope it doesn't disappoint!

**A short intermission where I briefly cover the lapse during the timeskip in the last chapter even though that essentially defeats the purpose of a timeskip, because timeskips are for when you don't want to write about the time that happened in between the timeskip**

**And also I lied when I said this was all written in June because I wrote this chapter like yesterday BUT just this chapter. The rest should be all June-Gwen**

**Also this is briefly a chatfic**

[Unknown] Hey

[Unknown] I see you got a new phone.

[Gakushuu] Hello! May I ask who this is?

[Unknown] It’s

[Unknown] Me

[Unknown] Em

[Gakushuu] OH

[Gakushuu] HELLO

[Gakushuu] YES I GOT A NEW PHONE

[Gakushuu] IT’S MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT!!!

[Unknown] Happy 6th

[Gakushuu] I’M ELEVEN!!!

\--

[Gakushuu] GOOD MORNING EMMITT

[Emmitt] Good morning, Gakushuu

[Gakushuu] IM GOING TO A PARK!!

[Gakushuu] I MEANT I'M

[Gakushuu] NOT IM

[Emmitt] That sounds fun

[Emmitt] Take some pictures of flowers for me

[Gakushuu] OKAY

\--

[Gakushuu] I saw this today! 

[Gakushuu] It made me think of you!

[Gakushuu] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] That’s a mouse

[Gakushuu] Yeah! It has white fur like your hair!

[Emmitt] Aren’t you in elementary school

[Emmitt] Why are they making you dissect a mouse

[Gakushuu] Not the school, the Principal is!

[Gakushuu] For biology!

\--

[Emmitt] Congratulations on making the school team

[Gakushuu] How did you know?

[Emmitt] :)

[Gakushuu] That’s creepy!

[Gakushuu] Thank you!

[Emmitt] I didn’t know you could play soccer

[Gakushuu] I decided to pick up a sport!

[Gakushuu] It would be good for my transcript!

{Gakushuu] And to get some exercise!

[Emmitt] Good

[Emmitt] A small boy like you should exercise more

[Gakushuu] I’M NOT THAT SHORT!!

[Gakushuu] YOU LAST MET ME WHEN I WAS TEN!!

[Gakushuu] I grew okay!! 

\--

[Gakushuu] I get my finals results today!

[Gakushuu] Wish me luck.

[Emmitt] Good luck

[Emmitt] I'm sure you scored great

[Emmitt] Hey

[Emmitt] How were they

[Gakushuu] iDont want to talk a bout it.

[Emmitt] Gakushuu

[Emmitt] Gakushuu

[Emmitt] (Missed Call)

[Emmitt] Pick up the phone

[Emmitt] (Missed Call)

[Emmitt] Pick up the phone, Gakushuu

[Emmitt] (Missed Call)

[Emmitt] (Missed Call)

(Call: 21 minutes 8 seconds)

\--

[Emmitt] Hey

[Emmitt] How are you feeling

[Gakushuu] Okay.

[Emmitt] Don't lie to me

\--

[Emmitt] You're on the basketball team now

[Emmitt] ?

[Emmitt] Aren't you already on the soccer team

[Gakushuu] I am. I decided to pick up another sport.

[Emmitt] To have a nice looking transcript?

[Gakushuu] Among those reasons.

[Emmitt] Don't burn yourself out

\--

[Emmitt] Ikeda played basketball, didn't he?

(Call: 30 minutes 22 seconds)

\--

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Gakushuu] ?

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Gakushuu] IS THAT A DEAD BODY?

[Emmitt] Oh shit 

[Emmitt] Fuck

[Emmitt] Delete that

[Gakushuu] EMMITT

[Emmitt] Fucking

\--

[Unknown] I'm supposed to apologize to you

[Gakushuu] Hello! I'm sorry but I do not have this number saved. May I know who I'm speaking with?

[Unknown] Why do you type like an automated system

\--

[Gakushuu] Hey, someone weird just texted me. 

[Emmitt] Oh fucking hell 

[Emmitt] That was my teacher

[Emmitt] He switched your contact with his

[Gakushuu] Was he trying to teach you about situational awareness and the importance of preparation and double checking your work?

[Emmitt] What the fuck

[Gakushuu] It reminds me of something the Principal would do.

\--

[Gakushuu] I decided to take an elective.

[Emmitt] Stop taking classes

[Emmitt] You have too many

[Emmitt] You'll get into a good middle school

[Gakushuu] (Photo Attachment)

[Gakushuu] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] You made these?!?!

[Emmitt] I'm proud

[Gakushuu] Thanks!

[Gakushuu] I was thinking of you.

[Emmitt] I know I said I disapproved of you taking more classes

[Emmitt] But flower arrangement is a good choice

[Gakushuu] They're so colorful!

\--

[Unknown] What is his favorite color

[Gakushuu] Hello! I apologize for the late reply, I was occupied with something at the moment. May I know whom this question is regarding? 

[Unknown] Are you a bot

[Gakushuu] Is this… uh… Reaper?

[Unknown] yeah

[Unknown] This is a time sensitive question

[Gakushuu] #E0B0FF

\--

[Gakushuu] I think you would like to know that your teacher contacted me again.

[Emmitt] Yeah

[Emmitt] I know

[Emmitt] Fucker doesn't even know my shoe size

[Emmitt] Let alone my favorite color

[Gakushuu] I don't know your shoe size either?

\--

[Emmitt] Happy seventh

[Gakushuu] I'm twelve!!!

[Emmitt] Do you still sit in a booster seat

[Emmitt] Can you get into rides at disneyland

[Emmitt] Do you need a step stool to reach the top shelf

[Gakushuu] I'll have you know that my father is very tall and I'm thus genetically inclined to be at least six feet tall!

[Emmitt] With insoles

\--

[Gakushuu] I'm going to Korea!

[Gakushuu] On an exchange trip!

[Emmitt] Send me your itinerary

[Gakushuu] (File Attachment)

[Emmitt] Hm

[Emmitt] That's so boring

[Gakushuu] It's not for fun, it's for educational purposes.

[Emmitt] You have some recreational breaks

[Emmitt] I'll send you a list of what you shiuld do

[Emmitt] And you better do them

[Emmitt] I'll know if you choose to study in the hotel all day

[Gakushuu] I won't! I do plan on going sightseeing, you know. I'm not that dull!

\--

[Emmitt] That's an ugly bag

[Gakushuu] Excuse you, it's a gift.

[Gakushuu] Wait

[Gakushuu] Where are you?!?!

\--

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment

[Gakushuu] We look like tourists!

[Emmitt] We are

\--

[Gakushuu] The Principal is bringing me to Okinawa islands.

[Emmitt] Are you excited

[Gakushuu] I don't know?

[Gakushuu] It's a little out of the blue.

[Emmitt] Bring a knife

[Gakushuu] I will not!

\--

[Gakushuu] It's a business trip for Kunugigaoka.

[Gakushuu] I think bringing me was for publicity.

[Emmitt] You've been a student there for about a month

[Gakushuu] I imagine it must be hard to bring any other student here with him.

[Gakushuu] It's sort of nice here.

[Gakushuu] (Photo Attachment)

[Gakushuu] I got a nice shot of the sunset!

\--

[Emmitt] I'm going to do something stupid

[Emmitt] Talk me out of it

(Call: 2 hours, 5 minutes, 32 seconds)

[Gakushuu] I love you.

[Gakushuu] Goodnight.

\--

[Emmitt] Love you too

\--

[Gakushuu] I fucking hate 

[Gakushuu] You ever hate someone for no reason?

[Gakushuu] Or rather, there is a reason, but it's not that person's fault that you hate them?

[Emmitt] What happened

[Emmitt] Aren't your midterms out today

[Gakushuu] I came in second to some fucking delinquent.

[Gakushuu] I don't even know who he is.

\--

[Gakushuu] i dont wan tto die, em

[Emmitt] (Missed Call)

[Emmitt] (Missed Call)

(Call: 1 hour, 43 minutes, 2 seconds)

[Emmitt] Talk to you tomorrow, okay.

[Emmitt] Gakushuu?

[Gakushuu] I'm here.

\--

[Gakushuu] I'm doing a summer programme in USA.

[Gakushuu] (File Attachment)

[Emmitt] See you there

[Gakushuu] :D

\--

[Emmitt] Turn around

[Gakushuu] askjshsdkk

\--

[Unknown] Tell him to stop goofing off

[Unknown] We have a job to do

[Gakushuu] Fuck off

[Gakushuu] Omg Reaper, Sir I truly apologize, that was not me who sent that.

[Gakushuu] I can say with certainty that your message has been conveyed, although I want to preface this that I have no responsibility in how that message was interpreted.

[Unknown] Lol

[Unknown] Ure too cute

\--

[Unknown] Happy thirteenth

[Gakushuu] Oh, hello Reaper! Thank you!

[Unknown] Here is a present

[Unknown] (Photo Attachment)

[Gakushuu] :O

\--

[Emmitt] Happy birthday

[Gakushuu] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] HOW THE FUCK

[Emmitt] WHEN THE FUCK

[Emmitt] I'm going to kill him

[Gakushuu] Haha! 

\--

[Gakushuu] I’m student council secretary this year.

[Emmitt] Congratulations!

[Emmitt] Are you going to run yourself to the ground again

[Gakushuu] No.

[Gakushuu] This is nothing I can’t handle.

[Emmitt] Sweetie.

\--

[Gakushuu] i just can’t FUCKING do anything right huh

[Gakushuu] I’m so tired, emmitt.

[Gakushuu] My legs hurt.

[Gakushuu] And my arms hurt.

[Gakushuu] I just ended practice.

[Gakushuu] I’m exhausted.

[Gakushuu] I think I’ll sleep early today. I may not be awake when you see this.

[Gakushuu] I’m feeling better now.

[Gakushuu] Ren talked to me.

[Emmitt] Hey, you okay?

[Emmitt] Ren’s good people

[Gakushuu] He is. 

\--

[Emmitt] Are you awake

[Gakushuu] Yeah.

[Emmitt] You shouldn’t be

[Emmitt] Anyways

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt] (Photo Attachment)

[Emmitt} Which is better

[Gakushuu] Are you going to a party?

[Gakushuu] The second one.

[Emmitt] What the fuck that’s fucking ugly

[Gakushuu] No it’s not.

[Emmitt] Are you just fucking with me

[Gakushuu] :)

\--

[Gakushuu] (Photo Attachment)

[Gakushuu] I got a full score!

[Emmitt] Congratulations! 

[Gakushuu] This is my first 500/500.

[Gakushuu] To celebrate, I’m going to have a cheat day.

[Gakushuu] Did you just send me a thousand dollars??

[Emmitt] Buy yourself something nice 

[Gakushuu] I can’t spend that much money!

[Emmitt] Go splurge on a meal

[Emmitt] Take Ren with you

[Gakushuu] Thank you.

[Emmitt] I’m proud of you

\--

[Gakushuu] I miss you.

[Emmitt] Miss you too

\--

[Gakushuu] What do you think I should get my father for his birthday?

[Emmitt] Shot

[Gakushuu] Seriously?

\--

[Emmitt] I'm about to do something stupid

[Gakushuu] Emmitt?? Emmitt call me!

[Emmitt] (Photo Attached)

[Gakushuu] I think this is possibly the worst dye job you have ever had.

\--

[Emmitt] Happy ninth birthday!

[Emmitt] You can almost ride the big boy rides now

[Gakushuu] I'll have you know that I have grown exponentially taller since you last saw me!

[Emmitt] You'll never be as tall as me

\--

[Gakushuu] Did the moon just fucking explode?!

[Gakushuu] Do you know anything??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And *now* we finally head to the beginning of canon


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know sometimes you're in those moods and you feel terrible and without inspiration and you don't even wanna open ao3 or process new information because your brain is the equivalent of mashed potato and you haven't updated in forever but everything you write is trash? And sometimes you're in those moods where you're on a high roll and every single idea you've had is a great idea and you would post content maybe three times a day if you didn't think your subscribers would think you've gone insane/you need to ration out your content so you can post something pre-written on bad days?
> 
> Yeah. Anyways, after a brief stint being the former (see: my sort-of hiatus whilst writing KK), I'm currently on a high note in the latter now.

**We finally bridge into canon, and turns out I made a tumblr post about this in MARCH so that's how long since I've had this damn idea apparently (so if you've seen said post you have already anticipated this)**

“Another assassin?” Irina says, leaning over Tadaomi’s shoulder. “Lovro didn’t tell me.”

“This person contacted us outside of the recruitment call we released through Lovro,” Tadaomi tells her. 

“An independent contractor,” Irina says. “That’s… interesting.”

“Goes by the name…” Tadaomi scrunches his face up. “Emmitt. Do you know anyone by that alias?”

“No, unfortunately,” Irina says. She’s frowning. 

“He seemed professional,” Tadaomi muses. “I held an interview for him two days ago. Although there’s no testament to his skills yet, he must be of a fairly high caliber if he managed to intercept and decode the recruitment call. Although...”

“Hm?”

“He seemed interested in this school,” Tadaomi says. “Kunugigaoka. The first question he asked me was to confirm the location.”

“What’s so good about this school?” Irina says. 

“Can you dig into him?”

“Yes,” She says. 

“He’ll be joining us at the start of next week,” Tadaomi says. 

“Does the octopus know?” She asks.

“We’ll keep it a surprise,” he says wryly. 

\--

“You’re fucking messing with me,” Gakushuu says. “You’re fucking messing with me.”

“What kind of greeting is that?” Emmitt says. “I finally come back to visit you and this is what I get?”

“You sent me a knife in the mail,” Gakushuu says. “A knife! The Principal - my father - almost called the cops!”

“Oh?” Emmitt says, with an amused smirk. “How did you convince him otherwise?”

“With my fucking persuasive speaking skills.”

“You swear so much,” Emmitt complains. “You’ve grown tall. I missed when you were small.” He’s barely a head taller than Gakushuu.

“Asshole!” Gakushuu says. “You sent me a fucking  _ bloody knife in the mail _ !”

Emmitt laughs. 

“What are you doing back here?” Gakushuu looks left and right, and his voice drops into a whisper. “Are you here  _ on a job? _ Is your teacher here too?”

“No, I betrayed him and sold him out one year ago, to a mad scientist who wanted human test subjects for his biological research.”

“...Oh.”

“I am here on a job,” Emmitt says. “Not the one that you think… not really. But I just have to say we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on.”

“You’re staying in Japan for longer than a week this time?” Gakushuu says. “How long?”

“Don’t know yet,” Emmitt shrugs. “I could make quick work of my target, but… I might play around with him for a bit. He deserves it, for what he’s done to me.”

“Who?”

“I suppose I have a lot to explain,” Emmitt says. “You know the octopus that blew up the moon?”

“...Yeah?”

“That’s my former Master. He’s the product of a biological experiment gone wrong, and now he’s an octopus super-creature that can travel at Mach 20 and can only be harmed by a single type of synthetic material. I took up the job to kill him.”

Gakushuu gapes at him. “Oh. Wow.”

“You’re surprisingly okay with this,” Emmitt says.

“You sent me bloody flower pressed bookmarks every month for four years.”

“Did you not like them?”

“They were very pretty,” Gakushuu sighs. “Unfair. Why the hell are you in Japan, then?”

“Because my former Master seems to have taken up the mantle of a teacher and is currently teaching class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Middle School.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“I start there in two days as a co-teacher,” Emmitt winks. 

“Oh my god,” Gakushuu shoves him. “You’re fucking with me!”

“Guess what?” Emmitt says, and waves his Kunugigaoka staff pass in front of Gakushuu’s face.

“Is that why you wouldn’t call me last week?!” Gakushuu screams. “So I wouldn’t see that your goddamn caller ID was in Japan?”

“Like I couldn’t fake it if I wanted to,” Emmitt says. 

“Em!” Gakushuu says. ”I’m in class 3-A! I’ll barely get to see you. But you have to tell me everything.” 

“Sure,” Emmitt says. 

“Where are you staying?” Gakushuu says.

“I rented a place,” Emmitt says. “A bit away from your school.”

“You have to walk up the hill,” Gakushuu says. “It can’t be driven up. Have you seen it yet?”

“No,” Emmitt says.

“I can take you.”

“Please, I’ll be going there every day for the next few weeks.”

“Oh, right.”

“Let’s go for ramen.”

“Oh! Right!”

\--

“Another assassin teacher?” Terasaka says. “But they’re useless!”

“Hey!” Bitch-sensei says. 

Karasuma-sensei sighs. “We need all the firepower we can get in order to kill this octopus.”

Koro-sensei laughs, his eyes narrowed in amused slits. “I can’t wait to see who my next challenger is. No matter, they surely won’t be able to stand up to Mach 20-”

“His name is Emmitt.”

“His name is WHAT?!” 

The class gapes as Koro-sensei all but flings himself out of the window in shock. When he returns, his tentacles are shaking so vigorously that they’re phasing in and out of human vision. “Emmitt? Did you say Emmitt?”

“You know him, Sensei?” Nakamura says.

“Know him?!?!” Koro-sensei shrieks. “Yes, I know him!” 

“But I couldn’t even find anything on him,” Bitch-sensei mutters to herself.

“Who is he?” Yoshida says excitedly.

The door opens, and Koro-sensei shrieks again. There’s a young man with light hair on the other side of the door, in his hands a large bouquet of flowers. He cocks his head and smiles. “Hi.”

“Ah, Emmitt,” Karasuma-sensei says. “Welcome.”

Emmitt-sensei walks in, looking over the classroom in curiosity. "It’s nice to meet all of you,” he says, then turns to Bitch-sensei. “Ah, Miss Irina! I hope to have a pleasant working relationship with you. Flowers for the lovely lady?”

“O-oh!” Irina says, blushing pink. “Thank you. I love roses!”

“And you must be…” He says, turning to Koro-sensei, and everyone holds their breath in anticipation. “...Sensei.”

Koro-sensei shrieks, again. “You!”

“Oh? Miss me?” Emmitt-sensei says, and then he immediately shoots Koro-sensei back out through the hole in the window and jumps out after him.

By the time 3-E all make it outside, there’s a giant trench in the ground from where Koro-sensei landed. He’s missing 3 tentacles, there are several weapons on the floor, and Emmitt-sensei has a gun. But then he raises it and pulls the trigger, firing a blank shot in the air. 

“Looks like I’m out of ammo,” he says, and drops the gun. “So that is what Mach-20 speed is like. How fun.”

Everyone, even Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei, are gaping at him. He smiles.

“You wouldn’t mind if I just called you Sensei, would you?” Emmitt says breezily. “Seems like an odd force of habit to break at this point, wouldn’t you say? Just for old times sake.”

“What does that mean?” Sugino says.

“Well, let me tell you a secret,” Emmitt-sensei says, winking. “Before this octopus was your teacher, he was mine.”

Koro-sensei pulls himself up. His tentacles regenerate, and he stares unblinkingly at Emmitt. “That’s true,” he says. “I taught him everything he knows.” Then, in a thread of conversation no one else can follow he says, “that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Not because of me.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Emmitt says, “the appeal of killing you once and for all is too much to pass up.”

[**The post in** ](https://gwendeeagain.tumblr.com/post/613726100629192704/imagine-if-reaper-20-took-the-normal-route-and)**[question](https://gwendeeagain.tumblr.com/post/613726100629192704/imagine-if-reaper-20-took-the-normal-route-and),** **which I'm linking at the end of this chapter because I don't want you to click on it in the beginning and get spoiled for a millisecond (although I'm fairly certain yall probably already figured out where I was going with this right from the start)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My [tumblr](https://gwendeeagain.tumblr.com/post/613726100629192704/imagine-if-reaper-20-took-the-normal-route-and), and said post, again.
> 
> Anyways they have a bro version of the Gakushuu Irina energy, change my mind


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Glad you guys have been vibing with this fic so far! Heheh.
> 
> I have Gakushuu Irina buddy fics and now I have a Gakushuu Reaper buddy fic. It's time to form the Blonde Squad.

**Nothing really happens in this chapter but I set the scene and the timeline a little**

Emmitt doesn’t make another attempt on Sensei’s life again. When asked, he simply smiles and says that there was no way he could beat Sensei on the open field one-for-one, especially not with Sensei’s Mach 20 speed. “If I truly want the upper hand, I need to set a trap,” he says, “although it seems like I’ve lost that element of surprise, isn’t that right, Sensei?”

Sensei doesn’t respond to that.

Emmitt thinks he is a good enough teacher. He doesn’t teach much, because Sensei already handles all the subjects save for physical education and languages. Sometimes Karasuma asks him to partner up so they could do some demonstrations, and sometimes Irina pulls him along for language class. Every once in a while he takes over for a subject and the kids say he has a similar teaching style to Sensei, which makes a lot of sense but is annoying to hear. He sits out otherwise, working on his own projects (whatever they may be), and some days he’s not even in.

Has he killed anyone yet since he'd stepped in Japan? Well, no. He doesn't kill for free, okay? He'll take a convenient job if someone puts a hit on someone somewhere close by, but a regular teaching schedule and Gakushuu keeps him not-bored.

“When you said Koro-sensei was your old teacher,” Kataoka asks, “what did he teach you?”

“A little bit of everything,” Emmitt says. “Math, for one.”

“English?”

“Sure.”

“How many languages does Koro-sensei actually know?” 

“Hmm,” Emmitt taps his chin. “Around thirty.”

“No way!”

“How long have you known Koro-sensei?” 

“Just about under a decade."

“He’s human, right?” Fuwa says. “I mean, he was, right. We’ve been thinking about it. There’s no way he was an octopus this entire while.”

Emmitt rolls his eyes. “Of course.”

Sugaya’s hand shoots up. “What did he used to look like?!” 

“Dark hair. The same creepy smile.” He frowns. “What do you guys do all day, besides study? I thought there would be more activities at this school.” Gakushuu had described Kunugigaoka as far more boisterous than it actually was.

“Oh, we’re in the E-Class. We don’t get included much in the main campus,” Maehara says.

“Unless they want to laugh at us,” Okajima says.

Emmitt himself has heard all about the class E system in place. He personally finds it acceptable. No system was flawless, and it seemed like this specific algorithm worked towards maximizing gain and minimizing loss, so he didn't have a problem with it. It’s not something he tells Gakushuu, however, and while he doesn’t mind the underlying logic of the system, he hates it on principle because of, well, the Principal.

“We actually had a couple of things go on before you joined,” Isogai tells him. “We had a school trip to Kyoto and a baseball match with the school!”

“It wasn’t fair because they made us go against the damn school team,” Maehara says, “but Sugino here crushed them! We won anyways!”

“Aw, the credit goes to everyone,” Sugino says, rubbing the back of his head.

“Ah, how interesting,” Emmitt says. He’d heard about the baseball match from Gakushuu. His father had been pissed.

“And this assassination classroom brings even more interesting things than some lame school activities,” Nakamura says. “I mean, we have Ritsu! That asshole Takaoka, who I’ll be glad to never see again! And that other exchange student with tentacles! Have we told you about Itona?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard,” Emmitt says. 

They tell him about Itona. A child who claims to be Koro-sensei’s brother, which Emmitt knows to be false. He has tentacles, which are the product of a science experiment, most likely the same one Emmitt originally sold his Master out to. And Itona’s guardian Shiro, aptly translated to White, who reminds Emmitt of Gakushuu’s first nickname for him.

“Well midterms are coming up, so they’ve cut back on activities for the time being. This school is very focused on academics.”

“Remember what Shindou said,” Sugino warns. “The Five Virtuosos are out for blood.”

“The Five Virtuosos?” Emmitt says, bringing a hand up to his mouth. He knows who they are, and in all honesty he thought Virtuosos was a very cheesy name. Gakushuu had seemed to like it, for all that fourteen year old child logic he had, and the serious look on 3-E’s faces told him that they too didn’t find the name overwhelmingly cheesy. Still, Emmitt always stifles a laugh when he hears it.

“They’re the five smartest kids in Main Campus,” Sugino explains. “Their leader is Gakushuu Asano, who’s also the Principal’s son. He’s the worst.”

Emmitt cocks his head. “Oh?”

“He’s got the whole student body under his thumb,” Maehara elaborates, crossing his arms. “They listen to him like sheep, and they’re all determined to bring us down.”

Honestly, Emmitt’s a little proud. 

Koro-sensei chooses this time to arrive, holding onto various food snacks in his tentacles. “Pastries from Germany are the best,” he says, and Emmitt snorts. (Sensei was always a little bit of a food snob.) “What have you all been up to?”

“Oh, we’re just telling Emmitt-sensei about Asano.”

Koro-sensei freezes. “O-oh?”

“Yeah. He’s smart, sure, but he’s manipulative and cruel-”

“I don’t think you should talk about your fellow schoolmate like that,” Koro-sensei says hurriedly. He glances over at Emmitt, who looks back with a wide grin. 

\--

“No thanks,” Gakushuu mumbles. “I’m watching my diet.”

“You shouldn’t be on a diet,” Emmitt says. “You’re like, ten.”

“Shut up! I’m fourteen!” Gakushuu says.

Emmitt pokes him in the stomach. “You don’t need a diet. You’re plenty tiny already.”

“I still can’t eat so much junk food,” he says. Emmitt shrugs and eats the previously-offered fry. 

“You’re a kid. It’s the best time to eat junk food,” Emmitt says.

“Stop calling me a kid,” Gakushuu says. “You’re not that much older than me. You can barely drink alcohol.”

“Excuse you,” Emmitt sniffs. “I’ve been drinking alcohol since I was seven.”

The both of them look up at the same time, and glances over at a very tall man with a round head as he settles into the table adjacent, which is separated by a small partition. “I suppose you told him then.”

“Told me what?” Gakushuu asks innocently.

Sensei blanches for a bit, but then he shakes his head. “Very funny. How have you been, Asano?”

“Same old, same old,” Gakushuu says. “Nothing’s changed about me since the last time we met. You, however…” He looks Sensei up and down. “You've put on some weight.”

“That’s your friends fault over here,” Sensei says, and Emmitt shrugs.

“I want to say I sympathize, but I really don’t,” Gakushuu says. 

“I don’t think you too should have ever met.”

“I would have sold you out regardless,” Emmitt says, sipping his soda. “I hated you.”

Sensei sags. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”

Emmitt bristles. “You used me,” he snaps, and then he’s out the door before Sensei and Gakushuu can blink. 

\--

Gakushu frowns down at the abandoned meal, then delicately takes a fry and pops it in his mouth.

“What does your father think?” Koro-sensei says.

“That I’m friends with a hitman that he hired for 3-E? Yeah, he doesn’t know,” Gakushuu says. He picks up the soda cup. “See you around, I guess.”

**At this point I realize I wrote the fic in an odd perspective and set off to make some changes, and also this chapter is short I don't want to break up the next few sections, which would accumulate in a longer chapter**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Concept: me attempting to write a fic in the mystery genre but a mystery only works if you guys don't know what I'm up to and I have too predictable blueprints of fics and characters I develop so you all figure everything out right at the start


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, listen. Did you know? Irina Jelavic is 21 years old at the end of the assclass series (pre-timeskip). Do you know what that means? It means she's the same age as your average college sophomore. She could be a college student. Did she even go through middle/high school? No, because she was too busy being a honeypot (as a minor) and killing people. She should have gone to school instead of going immediately back to work. Buying adorable stationery and joining clubs and making friends and acing her language classes. She would have loved it, you know she would have. What a shame that canon acknowledged she was just a child who didn't get to grow up (Reaper arc) and then put her back to work.

**So the last chapter I said the Kyoto trip and baseball game ended which means it's midterms and then summer break time and then you guessed it, Okinawa**

Gakushuu comes in first place when midterms finally roll around. 3-E also wins the weird little bet that the “Five Virtuosos” set up, so Emmitt thinks it’s a win-win. 

Although, he’d be bored if he goes on vacation alone. It’s such a shame.

“Am I allowed to bring my little brother with us?” Emmitt says, interrupting the excited chatters about their Okinawa school trip, and the class falls into silence.

“A brother?!” The students chorus excitedly, 

Sensei catches on. “No,” he says, “no, no, no-”

“Oh,” Karasuma says, looking surprised. 

“I don’t want to leave him at home,” Emmitt says, which is technically the truth. 

“No!” Sensei says, louder. “No, no, no!”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Karasuma says. 

Later that night he gets an affirmative from Karasuma, who also informs him that an NDA needs to be signed. Emmitt delivers the news in person via the ledge outside Gakushuu’s house window. “We’re going to Okinawa!” 

“What?” Gakushuu startles. He quickly opens the window so Emmitt climbs in and sits on the bed. “No, you are. I’m not.”

“No, you are coming,” Emmitt says. “I’m allowed to bring my younger brother with me.”

“You don’t have a,” Gakushuu starts, but then his mouth forms an ‘o’ and he points at himself. A laugh bubbles out of him. “Seriously? Do they even know?”

“Course not,” Emmitt says. He grins. “You always said you wanted to travel, right?”

“Going to Okinawa is not  _ travelling _ ,” Gakushuu says. 

“So I’m rescinding my offer if you don’t want to come.”

“Well,” Gakushuu says, “I doubt I would be able to obtain permission.”

“I thought that man doesn’t care about what you do,” Emmitt says, frowning.

“I told you that when I was ten,” Gakushuu says, rolling his eyes. “Besides, that clause applies only if I keep my flawless record. But courtesy of your new classroom, my transcript is far from perfect.”

Emmitt folds his arms across his chest. “You’re still in first place.”

“As council president, I’m representative of the student body,” Gakushuu says wryly. “Or something like that.”

Emmitt hums.

“Please don’t kill him,” Gakushuu says. 

“Not until you want me to,” Emmitt promises. 

“You sure you want me to come?” Gakushuu says. “3-E…”

“They could all die,” Emmitt snorts, and Gakushuu scowls at him, but it’s the truth. “I’ll convince your father.”

“No, you’re just going to mail him another bloody knife and then he’ll really call the cops,” Gakushuu scolds. “I’ll think about it, okay?”

“What will the police even do?” Emmitt says.

“You’re giving me grief,” Gakushuu laments.

\--

“I’m not going to go,” Gakushuu tells him, and then tells him off when he suggests offing his father again. “It’s just easier for everyone involved, okay?” 

Yeah, right. Emmitt gets to tell the class that his younger brother wouldn’t be able to make it, and Sensei audibly breathes a sigh of relief. Emmitt’s ticked off enough that he doesn’t hide his irritation.

“When you have to leave the kid home with his shitbag of a father,” Emmitt complains loudly, to watch Sensei freak out and flail his stupid tentacles around. “I’ve offered to kill that man so many times but the kid just loves him too much.”

“I’m sorry,” Kanzaki and Nagisa tell him sincerely. “I hope your family situation gets better.” They’re good kids.

He watches the kids go about their assassination plans. The trip is largely uneventful, and he mostly lounges on the beach with Irina. She says he should get tanned. 

The kids’ assassination attempt is hilariously amateur, but it’s amusing to watch, at the very least. They’re too discouraged when they fail. Gakushuu learns from his mistakes and he would already be picking apart the flaws of their plan if he was here.

When it’s discovered the drinks were poisoned, Emmitt’s largely unconcerned. He and Irina share a look - the takedown would be easy between the both of them..

But he does a double-take when the kids insist on coming. 

“It’s their classmates,” Sensei says. “They wish to fight for them. I can understand that, if my associates were harmed.”

“You’re such a hypocrite!” Emmitt snarls at him. “You don’t give a single damn about what happens to-” 

“-Emmitt-sensei!” It’s Nagisa. “Please. Let us come with you.”

“Fine! Die, then,” he says.

“Emmitt,” Sensei says, sighing.

“Don’t call me that,” Emmitt snaps. 

He stays behind in the lobby with Irina, because he doesn’t see the need to go on. The students can’t ask him because they need to be silent, but they all look pleadingly as they pass him. Sensei is disapproving, but Emmitt has gone far beyond being worried about disappointing him. There’s nothing here that interests him, because where else would one find the best assassin in the world? So he watches Irina play the piano, letting himself enjoy it, and then later he gives her a flower and whisks her away into the ballroom.

“What’s your name?” He flirts with her, but also because he’s genuinely interested to know.

Irina puts her arms around his neck. They sway to the music. “What’s yours?”

“You’d wish you’d never found out,” Emmitt says.

Irina laughs airly. She lets him swing her around, and then she puts her lips to his neck and whispers her birth name. It’s a little cute. That girl would have been pronounced dead over ten years ago.

So he twirls her so fast she’s dizzy, then dips her low and blows air over her earlobe. Then he tells her he’s the God of Death, and Irina brings her hands up to his hair.

Karasuma purses his lips when he sees them. “That’s unprofessional.”

Emmitt stares at him. “She’s a pretty lady.”

Despite his assumptions, Karasuma doesn’t stop Irina when she saunters up to him and rests her head on his shoulder. “What happened here?”

“Takaoka,” Karasuma says, clipped.

“Ah,” she says. “Shame.”

Emmitt looks over at the three assassins. Smog, Grip and Gastro. “Atsushi Imaruoka,” he says. “Katsuki Murase, and Takehito Koyasu.”

Irina looks at him, grimacing. “Cut that out.”

Karasuma looks at him as well. “What?”

\--

“I’m glad you didn’t come on the trip.”

“Wow, ditching me for 3-E already?” Gakushuu says.

“They were poisoned.”

“What?! Why the hell didn’t you start with that?” Gakushuu jolts. “Are they okay?”

“No, I let them all die,” Emmitt says. Gakushuu gives him a dirty look.

“They’re fine, don’t worry your little blonde head.”

“God,” Gakushuu says. “You’re a terrible person.”

Emmitt grins. “I know.”

“Father finally reported the case, by the way, in case you were wondering what came out of your latest ‘present’,” Gakushuu says. “Which means if you send me anything again, it’s going to be confiscated.”

“That’s okay, I don’t need to utilize the postal system,” Emmitt says. “I can just pass it to you.” To make the point, he pulls out a flower, and tucks it behind Gakushuu’s ear.

“Ugh, you’re cheesy,” Gakushuu says.

“I hear there’s a summer festival going on tonight,” Emmitt says. “Won’t you invite me? I’m hurt you’ve neglected to inform me about this Japanese tradition.”

Gakushuu frowns, looking guilty. “I wasn’t going to go. Where did you hear it from?”

“Sensei,” Emmitt says.

“You should go,” Gakushuu says. “Spend time with your class. You are their teacher, after all.” 

Emmitt frowns. “I spend enough time with them.”

“I have to study,” Gakushuu says. “Besides, 3-E will be there. If i go, they’ll see us together. Maybe you can get me a gift.” 

Emmitt sighs. Gakushuu was no fun sometimes. He does go to the summer festival, Sensei flitting about nervously the entire while. At some point he phases in front of Emmitt and drops a keychain into his hands, his single frozen expression looking almost earnest. “I hate you,” Emmitt says impassionately, and Sensei just as quickly speeds off. 

He throws the keychain away and gets Gakushuu a different one. A cartoon chibi drawing of a little chef with a tray of sushi, and a knife. He runs into Kanzaki, Okano and Fuwa when he’s making the purchase.

“Aw, that's so cute!” Okano says. “I want one!”

“I’m getting this for my brother,” Emmitt tells them. 

“He couldn’t make it today?” Kanzaki says. “You can bring him along for class if you wish to get him out of the house! I’m sure everyone won’t mind!”

“Although Koro-sensei seemed… uh, not as enthusiastic,” Okano says, wincing. “Has he met your brother?”

“He has,” Emmitt says. 

“Is your brother an as- ah, like you too?” Fuwa asks.

Emmitt thinks. Gakushuu was well versed in martial arts. He can use weaponry with an adequate level of mastery which could probably kill if he wanted to, although Emmitt thinks Gakushuu is too soft to ever want to. “He could be,” Emmitt says, “but he’s not.”

“How old is he?” Okano says. “If you don’t mind us asking.”

“He’s your age,” Emmitt says. 

“Aww,” Okano says. “I have tons of brothers too!”

“We would love to meet him,” Kanzaki says. 

“I’ll let him know.”

“They don’t want to meet me,” Gakushuu tells him, as he’s clipping the keychain onto his bag. “They hate me.”

“Perhaps,” Emmitt says. “But they will like you anyways.”

“Thanks,” Gakushuu says.

**The three names Emmitt lists for Smog Grip and Gastro are the names of their Japanese voice actors as per the wiki, because they weren't canonically given any names, not that I could find at least.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll: What should I post tomorrow? The next chapter of this fic, or a Karahou oneshot? I was planning to post the oneshot after Colloquialism finishes it's run, but I just finished writing it and I'm kind of excited.
> 
> (For those who have never come across the name [Karahou](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21478744), you must be thinking, well that's an odd but familiar ship name, it can't possibly mean what I think it means, right? Well I'm sorry to say that it means exactly what it means.)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once this fic ends I'm subjecting everyone to Karahou  
> and college student Irina Jelavic  
> and... other stuff
> 
> also whoever who wanted Gakushuu and Emmitt to interact in front of 3E this chapter is for you <3

**We now edge into the beginning (and then the middle) of the second semester and wow, this fic is really moving fast, isn't it?**

One of the 3-E kids, Takebayashi, requests to transfer to 3-A. It’s not surprising. Emmitt has done some digging into everyone’s backgrounds and Takebayashi comes from a wealthy medical family. He imagines the pressure would be similar to Gakushuu’s, and how his own used to be.

The transfer doesn’t last long, though, and he’s back in 3-E soon enough. Gakushuu comes home looking worse for wear and he buries his face in Emmitt’s shirt. Emmitt resents Takebayashi a little then. 

He ships a huge bunch of broken glass to Asano’s estate. Gakushuu’s laugh in the moment is worth the earful he gets later. 

\--

Emmitt hears about the Bo-tashi pole-toppling tournament first from his class. He opens up his phone to text Gakushuu about it as the class raves on. Why they were so emotional about the Bo-tashi tournament is a mystery to Emmitt. They were going to have to participate regardless, and even if Isogai's job was not on the line, Emmitt was sure they would have competed like it was anyways, if only to prove their superiority as E-Class or something like that. What's a little extra incentive to a task that was already going to be carried out?

“He’s such an asshole!” Maehara says, slamming his hands on the table.

“Now, now,” Sensei says nervously, gaze flitting back and forth, “be nice.”

“We’ll make Asano regret ever doubting our abilities!” Nakamura yells.

Emmitt looks down at his phone. Gakushuu is typing for an abnormally long time, but what he sends at the end is just a “ :( “. Emmitt scowls. 

“Emmitt-sensei,” Nagisa says. “Will you be helping us with the pole-toppling tournament?”

“Oh, sure,” Emmitt says. 

Karasuma has them go through more motions of physical training, so Emmitt really doesn’t do much but watch. He gets into a half-hearted spar with Karasuma with the kids watching, Much later he’s chilling with Irina with foreign books when some of the kids come up to ask them for language help. Irina looks up and gives him a compelling stare above her page, and Emmitt rolls his eyes and kicks her lightly in the shin, but he compiles and tutors them in English. 

The day of the pole-toppling tournament, Emmitt’s rooting for Gakushuu. Of course he is. He doesn’t cheer for 3-E like Sensei is going, but he does stand next to Karasuma. Gakushuu on top of the pole doing sports is kind of cute, and he’s proud, so he snaps a picture. Or two, or three. He sees Karasuma looking but the man doesn’t ask any questions. Sensei gets to take pictures of the kids, too, so he gets to as well.

He’s understandably bitter when Gakushuu loses. He still congratulates the class, but he hangs around campus instead of following them and makes small talk with the teachers.

Then Gakushuu emerges.

“Hi,” Emmitt says.

“Hey, Em,” Gakushuu mumbles. He walks straight into Emmitt and places his forehead against his chest, and stays there for a bit.

“What’s wrong?” Emmitt asks.

“Nothing,” Gakushuu says, unconvincingly. He pulls out his phone. Emmitt watches him dial for an ambulance and stays chillingly still until Gakushuu ends the call, and then he grabs the kid by the arm.

“What’s wrong?!” 

“It’s not for me,” Gakushuu says. “The exchange kids.”

“What happened to them?”

“The principal…” Gakushuu looks uncomfortable. 

“What. Happened.”

“He hit them,” Gakushuu blurts out in a single stuttered breath. “He hit them. There was blood everywhere. He hit them.”

Emmitt turns in the direction of the school building.

“Em, no,” Gakushuu grips onto his arm. “Em, please.”

“How about you?” Emmitt demands. 

“Nothing happened to me, I’m fine,” Gakushuu says. “Emmitt.”

“Those are exchange students,” Emmitt says. “Next time it’d be you.”

“He never hits me,” Gakushuu says, “he never.”

“He disguises them as spars,” Emmitt snaps.

“You spar with me!”

“I don’t use that as an excuse to slap you around!”

“I said no!”

“Gakushuu-”

“JUST GO BACK UP YOUR STUPID MOUNTAIN WITH 3-E, WHY DON’T YOU!!”

“HEY!”

Gakushuu rears back from him like he’s been burnt. Rushing over from the stands are the 3-E kids, who seemed to have caught the tail end of the conversation. “Leave our teacher alone, Asano! Stop being a sore loser!”

Gakushuu bristles. “Tell him to stay in his lane.” 

Emmitt glares at Gakushuu. He could be such a brat sometimes, and so narrow minded. Why was he being so stubborn? Emmitt could literally solve all the kid's problems in 5 minutes, or less.

“You better not go back on your word!” Maehara says. “Keep your secret about Isogai’s job!”

“Unlike you, I’m a man of my word,” Gakushuu hisses. Emmitt can’t help but think that was meant for him.

3-E comes crowding around Emmitt. “Are you okay, Emmitt-sensei?” 

Gakushuu stares at him, eyes wide, looking hurt.

“That was a good game, right Asano?” Isogai tries, smiling nervously.

Gakushuu snarls. “Why don’t you just disappear?!”

Fine, then.

So Emmitt doesn’t contact Gakushuu for two weeks, and at the end of two weeks the midterm results come out. 3-E had been punished for their hubris - they made a mistake and got someone hurt, or something, and they’ve been allocated hours of community service. (The specifics weren't important enough for him to remember, Emmitt had way more important things to do anyways, not that he was bothered by stubborn children of bad fathers (with meddlesome emotions such as familial attachment) or anything of the sort.)

As a result their grades fall, and the class complains about Gakushuu getting first place again.  Sensei flits between them and tells them not to be discouraged, and tells them doubly to stop bad-mouthing little Asano.

Who Emmitt couldn’t give a damn about, that little brat. 

\--

Karasuma looks between the both of them, lips pursed. “What?”

“Fuck off,” Irina says.

Emmitt looks up at him.

Karasuma stares, then wordlessly leaves the staff room.

Emmitt glances over at Irina. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks,” she mutters. She tips her head back and sighs. “You like anyone, Em?”

Emmitt thinks of Gakushuu, but he knows she’s not asking about  _ that _ . “No.”

“Don’t you think it’s such a waste?” She says. “For us to both be here? Playing teacher? We’re world-class assassins, for fuck’s sake.”

“Yes,” Emmitt says. 

“Why’d you come here, anyways?” Irina says, her head lolling to the side. “You could be out there doing anything you want. Is it your vendetta against the octopus?”

“I would stand a higher chance killing him as an external contact,” Emmitt says. “I wanted to see someone.”

“There’s no way you have a little brother.”

“How would you know that?”

“I suppose I don’t,” she says. “How many people are there in the God of Death? You? Your little brother?”

Emmitt stares at her.

“Just you?” She guesses, tilting her head the other way. “God, I can’t decipher you.”

Emmitt smiles. “You’re not supposed to be able to.”

“Right,” she sighs. “...and the octopus too, I suppose. Used to be two, and now it’s down to one.”

Emmitt doesn’t reply her.

She looks at him. “He’s a shitty master, wasn’t he?”

“What makes you think so?”

“You hate him,” she says bluntly. 

Emmitt laughs. “Yes.”

“Why haven’t you done anything?” She says. “You’re just biding your time. Don’t you want to kill him?”

“I do,” Emmitt says.

“Between the both of us, I think we stand a pretty good chance,” she says. “Don’t you think so? I’m sick and tired of waiting around.”

Emmitt looks at her. She has a determined set on her face, a pretty scowl on her lips. She's also right.

**I bet you can guess what's going to happen next, and also for some reason Gakushuu's "why don't you just disappear" line is canon in the manga for some reason**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall know what's about to happen


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've noticed some people bringing this up in the comments so here are  
> Some notes:   
> Gakushuu did not develop an independence from Gakuhou the same way canon Gakushuu would have had, because of Emmitt. I'm sure both versions of Gakushuu wouldn't want their fathers to actually die. Canon is (sadly) more solitary and bitter than his Colloquialism counterpart, because he didn't have anyone to turn to for emotional support in the earlier years of his life. For Colloquialism, his home isn't exactly the worst environment that he desperately needs to escape from. And besides, aren't there worst evils out there? His older brother is a literal serial killer, his father is just a school teacher - he can't be that bad.

**More things happen and you guys know what's up**

“Hey, Emmitt-sensei,” Isogei greets him. “Have you seen Bitch-sensei?”

“Why do you ask?” Emmitt says peacefully.

“Well, she hasn’t come in for lessons recently,” he says, scratching his chin. “That’s unlike her.”

“Well, that’s because I’m going to have her killed.”

“Oh. Wait, what?”

3-E blinks at him.

Kataoka stands up, frowning. “Emmitt-sensei, what are you saying?”

Emmitt leans against the board. “Do you know who I am?”

The class exchanges looks.

He smiles at them. “I’m the assassin known as the God of Death.”

Nagisa gets up so abruptly his chair clatters backwards. “Lovro told us about him,” he says, “the God of Death is the world’s best assassin.”

Emmitt smiles at him. “Let’s play a game,” he says. “A training exercise, if you will. Ritsu, show everyone the image I sent you.”

A picture of Irina, all trussed up and bound. The class gasps.

“If you want to see her alive again,” Emmitt says, “you’ll all come to where I tell you to. Feel free to equip your tactical gear and your weapons, or whatever else you find useful.” And to drive the point home, he details very slowly and very intricately (and draws a diagram on the board, see, he's a great teacher, they're learning anatomy) on how he would cut Irina up. And he watches their expressions go from uncertainty to terror. 

“How could you do this?!”

“Bitch-sensei trusted you!”

“You won’t actually kill her, will you?”

“See you there,” Emmitt says, and then he’s gone.

\--

“They fell for it wonderfully,” Emmitt says. “They’re very worried about you.”

“Tch,” Irina says. “They’re just one more obstacle in my way.” But she says it in a way that betrays her concern. She's young, hardly older than the 3-E kids, and she'd been with Lovro and the other assassins in their group for so long - she must miss them. Emmitt thinks he understands, because he had been barely younger than her when he first met Gakushuu, and look how that turned out. Emmitt's not too worried about it, though, because in the end she cares about 3-E less than she's afraid of him.

“I agree,” Emmitt says. Children were a hassle. They were ungrateful little things.

“Oh,” Irina says, looking over the security cameras. “Looks like they’re here.”

“How interesting.”

Irina cracks her knuckles. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

\--

They take the kids down fairly easily. They’re shocked by Irina’s betrayal as well, and they glare at both of them through the cage Emmitt has fashioned for them. He stares impassively as they plead and beg, and soon after he gets the alert for Sensei and Karasuma, who’s already arrived. 

He and Irina make quick work of Sensei, too. They make a pretty good team, considered.

“Both of you aren’t serious,” Karasuma says, teeth gritted. “They’re just kids!”

“Was it not a stipulation in my contract?” Emmitt says boredly. “Get the job done at any cost.” He glances over to Irina, who's staring at the kids with an almost blank face. Her bottom lip is quivering.

“Yes,” Karasuma curls his fist, “but surely-”

“The children’s safety weren’t specified,” Emmitt reminds him. “It is against the contract for Sensei to harm them - which, might I add, is a stupid clause because there’s no real way for the anyone to persecute a breach of the terms. It’s not against mine or Irina’s terms.” He sighs in Karasuma’s aghast face. “After Takaoka, why would you make this mistake again?”

“Sensei, please!” Isogai clutches at the bars. 

“You cannot be serious,” Karasuma says. “Emmitt, let them go. We can assassinate the octopus another way.”

“The fate of the entire world,” Emmitt says, “versus the lives of a single class of middle school children. It’s not a hard choice, Karasuma.”

“Emmitt,” Sensei starts.

Emmitt raises his hand and fires off a warning shot. The bullet pings through the bars of the cage and embeds itself in the concrete wall. “Don’t call me that.” 

“Please,” Sensei says. “Listen to your master one more time. The children are not just tools to be used and thrown away. They’re-”

“Oh you’re such a hypocrite!” Emmitt snaps at him. “Tell me master, when did you get a heart? Was it before or after you murdered dozens of children just as young as they are?”

“Don’t speak of these things!” Sensei yells.

“Ashamed for these little kids to know about your grisly past?” Emmitt says. “Riddle me this, 3-E. Did you think Sensei taught me math? English? No, he taught me how to kill. How to gut someone and string them up with their insides. How to make a murder look like a suicide.”

“Emmitt!” Sensei screams.

“SHUT UP!” Emmitt fires at him again. “The title of the God of Death belongs to me, because you lost it. But those hundreds of deaths tied to that name are yours! What are you trying to prove? Do you think you can redeem yourself, being a middle school teacher in a tyrannical school?!”

Sensei’s eyes widen. He gets as close to the bars as possible, but he doesn’t touch them. “What will your younger brother think of what you’re about to do?”

Emmitt stills. The class lets out an audible gasp, Karasuma and Irina’s eyes widen. 

“You don’t get to talk about him,” Emmitt says lowly.

“Imagine if he’s here right now,” Sensei insists. “He’s as young as them. They’re all the same! Imagine how he would feel, hearing that this entire class is dead and that you’re the cause of it?”

Emmitt fires more gunshots at Sensei, who predictably dodge all of them. “I said to stop. Talking. About him.”

Then Sensei says, “I’m sorry.”

Emmitt narrows his eyes. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” Sensei says. “I was not a good teacher to you. I led you down the wrong path. I admit I was selfish, and I took you in for my own gain.”

Emmitt fired another shot. One of Sensei’s tentacles explode into yellow goo. Disgusting.

“You’re right. I am trying to redeem myself. I want to help these kids so I don’t make the same mistake I did with you.”

“Don’t make yourself sound so noble,” Emmitt sneers. Sensei was like that. Spewing whatever words he could to get his way. He'd taught Emmitt the same thing, after all. Emmitt fires another bullet, and a second tentacle blows up.

“I’m not,” Sensei says. “You look for yourself in your younger brother, I see that. I understand that now. I- his father- I was supposed to take care of you. And he... you want him to be happy all the ways you never did.”

“Sensei,” the kids say softly. “Please.”

“I don’t want to say to do it for me,” Sensei says, “I don’t deserve your mercy. I accept that I have failed you and you were right to have turned your back on me. Do it for your brother, if anything. You know this isn’t what he would want.”

The kids are gripping onto the bars of the cage now, like they think staring at him with wide eyes would change his mind. They're so young, they're just fourteen, fifteen.

"..."

He turns to Irina. She has her arms crossed, and is looking softly at him. “It’s your call.”

“Emmitt,” Karasuma says softly. 

Emmitt stands up straight. He looks right into Sensei’s eyes. “I will never forgive you,” he says, and Sensei looks like he knows.

\--

“What are you doing here?”

“Do you not want me to be here?” 

Gakushuu shakes his head. He opens the window to his bedroom but instead of letting Emmitt in, he clambers out. The both of them climb up to the top of the house. “I yelled at you,” Gakushuu says.

“Was that an apology?” Emmitt teases.

The tip of Gakushuu’s ears turn red. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

Emmitt slings an arm around him.

“The Principal is pleased with the midterm results,” Gakushuu says. “I know it’s a fluke. 3-E deliberately flunked.”

“I don’t know why,” Emmitt says. “I don’t pay enough attention.”

Gakushuu laughs. 

"I know you were just frustrated that day," Emmitt says. "Are you still mad at me?" 

"Honestly, I think you're the one person I can't stay mad at."

"Even after I tell you I was going to kill every single one of the 3-E students?" 

"What?!" Gakushuu pulls away from him. 

Emmitt frowns. "I didn't."

Gakushuu scowls. "That's a mean joke to play." 

"I'm not joking," Emmitt says. "I was going to kill them, Sensei in the process." 

Gakushuu looks considering. "What stopped you?" He finally asks. 

"You," Emmitt says truthfully, and Gakushuu looks at him. "You wouldn't have liked it."

"I think not liking the murder of a whole class of my schoolmates is an understatement," Gakushuu says. Slowly he leans in to Emmitt again. "Thanks for not killing them."

"Course," Emmitt says, softly. 

\--

3-E receives him and Irina back on Monday with a wariness.

“We’ve signed a renewed contract,” Karasuma tells them. “All assassination attempts on the octopus have the stipulation that no harm will befall any of you.” 

“Honestly, it says a lot about government priority that it wasn’t one of the original clauses,” Emmitt says breezily.

Karasuma winces, but then he sighs. “Yes. I agree that the original contracts were… unsuitable.”

“Well, I’m a man of my word,” Emmitt says. “I signed the contract, so not a single hair missing from the top of your little heads.”

“Same goes for me, I suppose,” Irina says.

Emmitt surveys her. “You’re covered up.”

She folds her arms across her chest. “It’s chilly out.”

“Ah,” Emmitt says. The nights are getting longer and the days are getting colder. He should get Gakushuu a scarf. The boy is tiny, he must get cold easily.

**Parallels are drawn, Emmitt remains vindictive, 3-E are skittish, and Gakushuu needs a hug.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've noticed some people bringing this up in the comments so here are  
> Some notes:  
> Gakushuu wonders if Emmitt will stick around. For all that Emmitt says he cares about Gakushuu, he upped and left for four years. (It's not something either of them could change, but it left it's mark.) Gakuhou is the only constant in his life and he'd be there, once Emmitt finishes his job and has to go off again. Gakushuu doesn't want to be an orphan, and he doesn't want to have to be alone because he can't follow Emmitt, he has school and he can't kill people. Besides, 3-E seems to have taken a liking to him, and they all have a wonderful student-teacher relationship. His father certainly cherished his student-teacher relationship more than the one with his family, and it's all because of that satellite classroom on top of the hill.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, how is everyone doing? We have officially passed the Reaper Arc (which, as you can see, still happened anyways.) This is a short chapter because the next one will be longer and you all Know what's coming.

**We have another short interlude, and nothing else really happens, an** **d honestly if i had chosen to put in a tad more effort and expand a little bit on 3-E we might be having a conspiracy theory on the side because why was Emmitt taking pictures of Asano during Bo-tashi and it's really out of character for Asano to lose his cool and yell at a teacher like that and hey, doesn't that keychain look familiar to you? But alas, I did not write any of that in, so we can only imagine.**

“I’ll be singing for the school festival.”

Emmitt is intrigued. “You can sing?”

Gakushuu blows some air over his fingertips. “Yeah. And play the guitar.”

Emmitt spins him around. “I want to hear it.”

Gakushuu laughs. “I haven’t practiced!” He says. “You have to wait like everyone else.”

“Aww,” Emmitt says. “3-E plans to have a cafe.”

“Oh?” Gakushuu says. “Cool. 3-A will still beat them.”

Emmitt loves his enthusiasm and ambition. “I will come see your performance.”

“Yeah?” Gakushuu smiles. “You don’t need to be with 3-E?”

“They won’t miss me,” Emmitt says. “You’re more important.”

On the day of the festival, Em tries the food 3-E cooks (they’re good) and snags a package for Gakushuu. He heads down to the school auditorium and finds a nice spot to film, and waits for Gakushuu’s performance. Him and his little buddies - the Virtuosos, he sniggers - nail the song rather nicely, and after that he intercepts Gakushuu in the hallway.

Gakushuu's happily red faced and breathless. “Em, hi!”

“Very nice out there,” Emmitt says. “Try some acorn noodles.”

Gakushuu’s eyes widen. “DId 3-E make this?”

“Yes,” Emmitt says.

“It’s good,” Gakushuu admits. “I hear there’s quite a long line forming for their food. I see why.”

“I think you’re better,” Emmitt says loyally.

“Thanks,” Gakushuu says. 

Emmitt tells the class that his younger brother liked the acorn noodles. 

“That’s where you went!” Isogai says. Karma packs up a lunchbox and gives it to Emmitt, looking proud.

Gakushuu’s right, because 3-A wins first place. 3-E comes very close, however, and snags third. Emmitt thinks this should have appeased Asano Senior, but when he finds Gakushuu later that day, he looks miserable.

“He suggested poisoning 3-E’s food to bring them down!” Gakushuu says. “He’s crazy!”

Poison is nothing compared to some of the ways Emmitt has ever tried to kill people. He doesn’t say that.

Then Gakushuu dives into his arms, and buries his face in Emmitt’s shoulder. “Why is anything I do never good enough for him?” He sobs.

\--

The activities fall into a lull with the approach of finals, which means Gakushuu gets busy too. Emmitt gets pulled into more teaching duties, until he finds out that Gakushuu has been unceremoniously kicked out of class by his father. Principal Asano had taken it upon himself to teach 3-A, and Gakushuu had been delegated to his house. 

“You don’t have to keep me company,” Gakushuu says. “You can go work. I’m fine, I can study on my own.”

Gakushuu may be mature for his age, but he’s still a kid. Emmitt recognizes loneliness when he sees it. Still, he knows that Karasuma and Irina are bugged by his regular disappearances. Sensei knows where he goes and he never comments on it, although he does look disapproving like Emmitt should invest his time in 3-E instead. He comes up with a compromise, and spends only half the school days with Gakushuu. 

The half that he’s in class, 3-E gravitates towards him. They seem to have forgiven him for trying to kill them, similarly with Irina. Children were odd. 3-E were silly, because it's been a whole year and they think they are invincible, because for some incredibly fortunate reason they'd ran headfirst into danger and come out from the other unscathed. It makes a child cocky - who was Emmitt kidding? That sort of success rate made Sensei cocky too. 

Emmitt supposes it takes a long time for a child to form a grudge. He himself had stuck with Sensei as a child, as well.  He wonders how long before Gakushuu smartens up and leaves his father?

“Who are you texting, Emmitt-sensei?” Nosy kids.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Okajima asks.

“No,” Emmitt says. “I was texting my brother.”

“Ah, when can we meet him?” 

“He needs to study, just like you all,” Emmitt says.

“Oh! Which High School is he planning to apply to?”

“Hm,” Emmitt says. “I’m not sure yet.” He has no doubt that Gakushuu would wish to continue to Kunugigaoka High, but hopefully he can convince him otherwise by the end of the year? Maybe kill the Principal, as well.

“Maybe one of us will see him in High School,” Isogai says. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever come back to Kunugigaoka,” Nakamura says. “I love you guys, but the rest of the school is just… eugh.”

“The Principal is awful,” Hara says. “Not that I’m saying he’s a bad teacher, but his own son can’t stand him!”

Emmitt looks up, curious. This is the first mention he’s heard about this. “Why?”

“Oh, right. You haven’t heard,” Maehara says. “When we were walking back yesterday, Asano stopped us! He asked us to assassinate the Principal’s crazy education ideologies!”

“His word choice gave me a heart attack!” Fuwa agrees. “So specific!”

Emmitt doubts that was a coincidence. Little brat was probably laughing to himself as he said so - and he had a brilliant poker face too, something Emmitt appreciates. But also, Gakushuu approached 3-E? He’d neglected to inform him. “What else did he say?”

“That the Principal is a shitty dad,” Muramatsu says. “Well, he didn’t actually say that, but we can read between the lines.”

“I honestly kind of pity him,” Kataoka admits. “Having the Principal for a father must be sad.”

“If we undergo so much pressure as just students of Kunugigaoka, imagine living in the same house,” Kanzaki says.

Emmitt asks Gakushuu about it later, who rolls his eyes and says 3-E can’t keep a secret. Then he sighs. “I figured they needed a morale boost,” he says. 

“I can’t believe you went to my students about killing your father before me,” Emmitt says, mock-offended.

“You know it’s not like that!” Gakushuu laughs, shoving him. 

“They’re certainly spurred on,” Emmitt observes. “You do well as a leader.”

“Yeah?” Gakushuu looks self-satisfied. “I know the right way to motivate my subjects, even if they hate me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:  
> Similarly to Gakushuu, Emmitt is much less resentful towards his mentor figure (Korosensei) than his canon counterpart. Korosensei had always been receptive towards kids (he picked up child 2.0 after all) and him having amicable interactions with Gakushuu in the past/not demanding Emmitt cut off that relationship earns him points. Gakushuu has given Emmitt an emotional anchor, and an option. Canon 2.0 consciously chose to burn down all his bridges when he betrayed the only person who knew him, and he cut off his face so Korosensei will never find him ever again. Emmitt has emotional stakes which dissuade him from turning his back on his past entirely, but it was also easier for him to choose to betray Korosensei because after that he had somewhere to go. He also chooses to go because if at any moment had Korosensei felt any more wronged or vindictive, Gakushuu was just within the immediate vicinity.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, how is everyone? I'm looking at the prices for all my college textbooks and you know what! I think I'll go without textbooks this semester! I'm sure the required readings weren't important anyways!   
> (jk I torrented them)

**Ah yes, the pivotal moment in every Gakushuu-Gakuhou dynamic ever, you know the moment**

On the bright dawn of results release day, Emmitt watches as the kids chatter in nervous anticipation. He absentmindedly fiddles with his phone, already preparing a "congratulations" message for Gakushuu, when Sensei announces that Karma Akabane had come in first. 

Emmitt's gaze snaps up. "Was it a tie?" He demands. 

Sensei looks at him, and then he catches on to Emmitt's line of thought. "No, it isn't." 

Karma's eyes twinkle. "So I beat Asano?" 

Sensei pauses. "You did." 

The class cheers. Emmitt scowls down at his phone and deletes the message, and deliberates on what to send. In the end he chooses to send nothing, deciding to see Gakushuu in person. 

As a gesture of goodwill he waits for the announcement of all the results before departing for the main campus, but stopping by the 3-A classroom he learns that Gakushuu is not in. 

"Where is he, then?" He asks politely. 

One of Gakushuu's classmates looks incredibly nervous. He expects her to say the Principal's office, but she tells him meekly he's at the nurses' station. His blood runs cold. 

Gakushuu startles when he enters the room. He has a hand over his cheek and his eyes are red. 

Emmitt is furious. "Let me see," he says gently instead, and Gakushuu moves his hand. There's a small graze against his mouth, likely from someone's knuckles, but the skin around it is swelling enough to be a bruise. 

"He hit you," Emmitt says slowly.

Gakushuu's bottom lip trembles. "I walked into a door-" 

"Do you think I'm an idiot?!" Emmitt snaps sharply. Immediately Gakushuu is gripping onto him, looking up with wet eyes. 

"Em, please." 

Emmitt has given so many chances. Too many chances to Sensei, too many chances to Gakushuu's father. None of them will ever learn. He won't make the same mistake again. "Where is he." 

Gakushuu doesn't reply him, and shakes his head. 

"I can find out," Emmitt says. 

Gakushuu's nails dig into his forearm. "Em-" 

"Sit," Emmitt says. He pries Gakushuu off him quickly and gently, and then turns on his heel. He intercepts the nurse and whispers to her instructions on keeping Gakushuu in the room, and he's halfway down the hall when he hears a commotion behind him. The nurse is yelling at Gakushuu, Gakushuu is screaming back. The kid is good, so it will take him only a bit to talk his way around her. 

He pulls out his phone. "Ritsu, where's the Principal?" 

"He's right at the classroom, Emmitt-sensei," she says pleasantly. 

"Thank you," he murmurs. He picks up the pace and heads back up the mountain towards the classroom, and gets there in time to see the tail end of an alteration. The Principal is there, looking thoughtful, and Sensei looks smug. 

Emmitt pulls out his real gun and fires.

There are sharp short screams of alarm, and then Sensei in front of Gakuhou, shielding him. Gakuhou's eyes are wide in shock and he's braced against a table. He's alive, bummer. 

The kids cry out in alarm. "Sensei?!" 

"Emmitt!" Karasuma rushes forth. He has his gun drawn as well, good to take precautions given Emmitt's track record. "What is this about?" He demands. Irina also has her gun out, aimed at Emmitt. Her eyes are wide, and her gaze darts quickly between Emmitt and Gakuhou.

"Nothing you should be concerned about," Emmitt says smoothly. "Octopus,  move." 

"You just tried to kill me!" Gakuhou says.

"Observant," Emmitt snarls. 

"What happened?! Did something happen?!" Sensei says. Ah, right, he's the only one that truly knows.

"He knows what he did," Emmitt says. 

"Asano," Karasuma says, panicked. "What did you do?" 

The classroom door slams open once again. It's Gakushuu, panting. "Stay back!" Gakuhou yells, like he cares. 

Emmitt immediately grabs Gakushuu by the arm and twists him into a choke-hold. The class screams for him to stop, Karasuma has the gun aimed at him now, Gakuhou steps forth, and with a gasp, Irina lowers her gun. Ah, she's figured it out - clever girl. The only person who hasn't reacted is Sensei, save for holding Gakuhou back. Shame, Emmitt would have taken the shot otherwise. 

Gakushuu doesn't struggle. Good boy. 

"Em," Gakushuu says softly. "Emmitt. Em, please."

A notable wave of confusion washes over everyone. 

"Em. Put the gun down, please." 

"Listen to him," Sensei pleads. "I don't know what happened, but-" 

"Don't know what happened?!" Emmitt lets out a harsh bark of laughter. "Look at him. What happened? Tell them what happened, Gakushuu?" 

Gakushuu doesn't say anything.

Emmitt points the gun at Gakuhou. "Tell them what happened!" 

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Gakuhou says, distressed. "Let my son go!" 

"Oh, so he's your son now?!" Emmitt pulls Gakushuu back a little meanly, Karasuma snaps to attention, and before anyone else can blink Emmitt shoots his gun out of his hand. There are screams, yells, and Karasuma grips his injured wrist. 

"Emmitt, please," Gakushuu sobs. "Em. You promised. You promised." 

"He hurt you, Gakushuu," Emmitt says. "He hit you. I know this isn't the first time."

Gakuhou's next words are furious. He's talking so much for someone who knows so little. His brows are knitted together and he's strained against Sensei, who adamantly refuses to let Gakuhou walk to his death. "You talk about me hitting my son when you're about to-"

"SHUT UP!" Someone yells. Oh, it's Gakushuu. "Shut up for once in your life! I'm trying to not get you killed! Shut up shut up and listen to me for once in your life!!" 

When Gakushuu wiggles free, Emmitt lets him. He stands directly in the line of fire, to make his point, and he looks up at Emmitt. His eyes are red-rimmed and puffy and the wound on his cheek is a motley red.

"I know," Gakushuu murmurs, "you just don't want me to get hurt. But he's my dad. Emmitt, you promised you wouldn't. You'll tell me the truth, right?" 

"I promised I wouldn't as long as you stayed safe."

"I'm safe!" Gakushuu cries. "I'm here!" He steps into Emmitt's space, and curls his hand around Emmitt's face. "I'm here, okay?" 

"Are you sure?" Emmitt says. "Is this what you want?" 

"Yes," Gakushuu insists. 

Emmitt doesn't lift his finger from the trigger but he lowers the gun a fraction. "I made you cry." 

"Yeah," Gakushuu says, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "You should shoot yourself." 

Emmitt lifts the gun. 

"I'm joking!" Gakushuu says. He takes the gun from Emmitt and drops it on the floor, and kicks it to the far end of the classroom. Then he squeezes back into the space between Emmitt’s arms.

“Well,” Sensei says. “I’m glad this all worked out. How have you been, Gakushuu?”

“Pretty terrible, all things considered,” Gakushuu says.

“What is going on?” Someone echoes desperately.

Ah, 3-E. They're still here. Don't they know it's rude to stare when people were dealing with family crises?

Gakushuu whirls around to face his father. “You hit me in front of class!”

Gakuhou sags. “Gakushuu.”

At the back of class, Karma crosses his arms. “What, because he got second place?!”

Gakushuu runs to his father and stands there. “I don’t want you to die, but I hate you.”

Gakuhou looks apologetic, to his credit. He puts a hand on Gakushuu’s shoulder.

“You’re coming to my apartment,” Emmitt says. 

“Oh,” Gakushuu says. He looks torn, looking between his father and Emmitt. “I-”

Emmitt’s patience is wearing thin. He doesn’t understand filial piety, or whatever this is. “You come, or you go home and I shoot your father,” he snaps. 

“Right!” Gakushuu says. “Yes. I’ll move in with you.” Gakuhou opens his mouth, and Gakushuu steps on his foot. 

Gakuhou is not deterred. He puts an arm around Gakushuu. “You’re the one who keeps sending me death threats!”

“You deserve it,” Emmitt snarls.

“Well, I-”

“He’s the world’s best assassin, Pa, will you please stop antagonizing him?” Gakushuu looks exasperated. Gakuhou turns to Sensei and Karasuma for confirmation, both of whom just nod miserably.

Gakuhou relents. “But.. how? Why?”

Gakushuu takes him by the hand and pulls him to a corner. By which time the 3-E students deem it safe to venture out for their own questions, and they start crowding Emmitt. There are many questions, but Emmitt catches them all. “Yes,” he says loudly, and the class quietens. “Gakushuu is my younger brother.”

“-BUT,” Gakuhou says louder, and Gakushuu shushes him.

“Not biological,” Emmitt shoots Gakuho a dirty look. “I met him when he was small. Like, five.”

“I was ten!” 

“He was a very small child,” Emmitt says. “I could have killed him. His father never warned him about… stranger danger.”

“You too were never warned about stranger danger,” Sensei says. “I killed your father in front of you, and you approached me after.”

“Technicalities,” Emmitt waves it away. “Gakushuu is a very cute kid. He’s my younger brother.” He looks meaningfully at Gakuhou. “I would have killed you a long time ago, but Gakushuu kept saying no.”

“That’s because you’re a great big brother who would _never_ _break a promise_ ,” Gakushuu scolds. “You gave me a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry,” Emmitt says. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“Don’t kill my father,” Gakushuu mumbles. “He’s still my dad.” With that, he wraps his arms around Gakuhou, who in what Emmitt can only assume is a petty and vindictive move, glares at Emmitt and hugs Gakushuu back. 

“If only you thought like that,” Sensei says.

“I still hate you,” Emmitt says.

\--

So Gakushuu moves in with him that evening. The next morning he convinces Gakushuu to go up to 3-E.

“You always said you wanted to meet my younger brother,” Emmitt tells the class.

“Why do you keep talking about me?” Gakushuu complains.

“Because I like you,” Emmitt says.

Isogai raises a hand. What a polite child. “So you knew about Koro-sensei the entire while?”

“Pretty much,” Gakushuu says, burying his hands in his pockets. “Well, only from when Em joined your class. I met Emmitt and Koro-sensei when I was ten. I used to approach strangers to invite them into a conversation, to practice my speaking skills,” Gakushuu pauses. “My father is not the best at, well, preservation of life. We kept in touch ever since.”

“Sorry about your father,” Kanzaki offers.

“Thank you,” Gakushuu says.

“So you’re living with Emmitt-sensei now?”

“Oh. Yeah,” Gakushuu looks up at him. “I am.”

“What does the Principal think?”

“He hates it,” Gakushuu says, grinning. “I had to video-chat with him for hours yesterday. And this morning.”

As if on cue, Gakuhou appears. He glares at Emmitt and manhandles Gakushuu away from him. He truly has no life preservation skills. 

Emmitt opens his mouth.

“No,” Gakuhou snaps, just before he can say anything. “I get to keep him at school.” And then he drags Gakushuu off.

Emmitt blinks impassionately after them. He turns back to class. “Gakushuu will be applying to Kunugigaoka High next year. I don’t like it, but he’s stubborn.”

“Oh, sweet,” Karma says. “I’ll be seeing him.”

Emmitt narrows his eyes.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Karma says hastily.

Emmitt sniffs. “Keep your hands to yourself.”

“Now, now,” Sensei says. “This leads in nicely to our next topic of discussion! High school!”

Emmitt lets that topic wash over him. He busies himself instead with his phone. He’d recently procured the phone number of Gakuhou Asano and they were currently in what Emmitt can only describe as a text custody battle. 

“Emmitt-sensei!”

Emmitt looks up. “What?”

“Well, we were wondering what your future plans were!” The class looks at him curiously. 

“Convince Gakushuu to let me kill Gakuhou,” Emmitt says. Pauses. “Adopt him.”

“Other than that,” Maehara asks. “What about your job? Are you going to remain a teacher?”

“Fuck no,” Emmitt snorts. The only kid he can deal with is already a handful himself. “Assassination is lucrative. The moment Sensei dies, I’m off.”

“But you won’t be able to be Gakushuu’s guardian and be assassinating at the same time,” Hayami points out.

Emmitt sniffs. “Sensei managed it.” 

“Look how that turned out,” Sensei says unhelpfully.

**None of the adults in assclass are allowed to give parenting advice, like literally none of them, not even Aguri (don't come for me, she loved her sister but she wasn't the parent)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:   
> Canon Gakushuu and Irina bond because Irina is a child and behaves closer to one than an adult. They both hide a conniving and spiteful nature underneath a people-pleasing appearance, and I believe the moment it clicks for the both of them, they’ll get along swimmingly. Canon Gakushuu, however, will not trust an adult any further than he could throw them, and Canon 2.0 by which time would be too far cold to think about entertaining a teenager (whom he’d demonstrated is part of the age group he’d kill without hesitation).   
> The chance I see is post-Reaper arc with 2.0 fresh out of watching Korosensei care for kids he’d known for barely half a year more than he’d ever did for him, and post-Botashi pole event with Gakushuu’s growing trepidation over his father. 2.0 meets him to gather intel, and Gakushuu would never outright badmouth Kunugigaoka, but 2.0 sees through that facade. For 2.0, someone disillusioned with Kunugigaoka is interesting to keep around considering Korosensei’s receptive demeanor. For Gakushuu, he’s had plenty of experience with adults who have a superficial niceness, but someone probing him for information on Kunugigaoka and 3-E should be investigated with whatever weirdness is currently going on there. Gakushuu is no real good as a hostage because he's not one of Koro-sensei's students, but if he was, he'd be a pleasant one considering his house is the equivalent of a prison cell anyways.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the funniest fucking thing I've seen today is yall describing Emmitt as a Yandere and honestly... yes @I need caffeine @Mofumofu 
> 
> And also @demondancetokyo how does it feel to know you're the funniest person alive  
> Gakushuu and Gakuhou, still family:   
> korosensei: lol what if that was us  
> emmitt: no ❤️

**Kayano does the Thing, and we have an intermission where we briefly talk about feelings**

Kayano Kaede reveals herself to the world - she is Akari Yukimura, younger sister of the late teacher Aguri Yukimura, who so happened to work in the laboratory that captured Sensei. How funny for things to eventually come full circle.

The power of the tentacles is impressive, Emmitt admits, although he knows their weaknesses outweigh the benefits. He knows how to exploit them, and with the year long stint he figures this class, too, knows. Besides, Gakushuu would be mad at him if he decided to inject himself with tentacles, even if it was for the momentary firepower. 

He would also be mad if Emmitt killed Kayano Kaede/Akari Yukimura, so Emmitt lets the kids handle it. And of all reasonable normal options to solve this simple problem they chose to kiss her, what the fuck. 

Whatever. He’s supposed to be a teacher and encourage critical thinking and creative problem solving. The kids are clearly learning far too much from Irina.

They know the real story now, Sensei tells them an abridged version of it. Much later, Emmitt gets the whole spiel, along with the blushing giddiness that Sensei bestows upon him. He almost wishes he could have met this Aguri Yukimura now, only to see the woman who made Sensei into this mess. 

\--

“I have a question,” Okano says one day. “Sensei, you only met Gakushuu as a kid for a few days, right? What got you attached?”

Emmitt shoots her a sharp look. She wilts a little.

Irina answers before he does. “Sometimes,” she says a little wistfully, “when you’ve lost so much and you haven’t felt the touch of humanity in a long long time, the simplest purest moments can leave such a lasting impact.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience, Sensei,” Yada says almost mischievously.

Irina laughs. “I fell in love once, you know. I don’t think I’ll love anyone like that again.”

“Oh?” Karasuma says, an odd look on his face.

“I think I was fifteen. One of my earlier missions, but it seemed too hard… I didn’t think I would be able to complete it. I was sitting by myself. I must have looked like a sad sight, alone on a bench, shivering without a jacket in late autumn. Then a boy came up to me. He gave me his coat, took me to a restaurant and bought me a hot lunch, told me that whatever I was going through would get better…” her gaze trails into the distance. “I knew him for an hour. But I think if he asked me then and there to leave everything behind - my training, my past… I would have. I would have followed him anywhere.”

The class is silent.

Emmitt smiles a little. “I felt nothing when a little kid came up to me. I figured it would have been a nice way to kill time. I’ve murdered children like him before, younger even, countless other times. But he made me try sushi.” He laughs, thinking of the memory. “I gagged. It was disgusting. The kid started giggling at me. He took all his coins out from his wallet and counted them out, and I watched him stand on his tiptoes and put them one by one into a vending machine and got me a drink. He handed me the can, said he was sorry for laughing, and that I didn’t have to pay him back. I think, in that moment, I would have burned down the whole world for him.”

\--

“How about you, Koro-sensei?”

Emmitt thinks about Aguri, and glances over at Kayano Kaede. But then Sensei speaks, and Emmitt doesn't know what to say.

“When you first brought me flowers, I think,” Sensei says, looking at Emmitt almost fondly. “A whole bouquet which you arranged. I never taught you that. It had peonies, gerberas, a tiger lily. I think for that single moment, I regretted everything. Regretted picking you up, letting you stay with me, training you to kill,” he sounds almost sad, “I imagined walking past a florist one day, and looking past the window to see you, and I knew you would never be able to get that because of me. When you gave me that bouquet I almost shut the door on you. I didn’t want to see you holding a gun anymore.”

Emmitt’s mouth parts. “I-”

“Then everything else won out. The practicality of the situation. How we could never go back. So I never thought about anything like that again.” 

**I love Kayano but I literally have nothing to write about her in this fic, and also it's up to you to decide if Koro-sensei is telling the truth or lying for Emmitt's benefit because everyone here (yes including Emmitt) is a liar and this is the worst unreliable-narrator fic because Emmitt is clearly biased but there's nothing plot important for him to unreliably narrate, so it's really more of a lackluster-narrator because yes I am**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:  
> Does Emmitt hate Gakuhou Asano? The short answer is no.  
> The long answer is that he does not have any particular personal grievances towards Gakuhou Asano, and any sort of resentment he harbors is purely because of Gakushuu. Emmitt talks a lot about murdering Gakuhou, but in fairness he just talks a lot about murdering people, and he doesn’t necessarily harbor a hatred for someone to want to kill them. Emmitt respects Gakuhou’s drive for success and his clear-cut brutal and efficient ideologies - he’s the same way, after all, and he doesn't inherently find fault in Gakuhou's actions the same way normal people do. He’s no stranger to terrible father figures, but he thinks Gakuhou is far better than Koro-sensei is, because Gakushuu still loves him. It’s likely that they will get along - they’re cordial, because of Gakushuu, but they find (to both their surprises) common interests. They’re both extremely intelligent and debate on far too obscure scholarly topics that even Gakushuu “???”s at.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an equally short chapter, (honestly all the chapters are short), and there's only one more little chapter left to go.   
> Or is there?

**The civil war happens, Emmitt hangs out with Irina, and the kids go to space**

Emmitt doesn’t bother himself with the whole debate about whether to kill or save Sensei. He’s already made his choice. It’s not his place to judge, but he does admit he’s a little disappointed when Save wins out.

“You could have won,” he tells Akabane.

“Well, yeah,” Akabane shifts uncomfortably. “That’s not the point, though.”

Emmitt watches him for a bit, then finally rolls his eyes. “You children are so sentimental.”

Akabane shrugs. “Maybe we are. But so are you.” He affixes Emmitt with an appraising look.

Emmitt rolls his eyes. The kids are less wary of him now, because of Gakushuu, as if their previous assassination attempt did not happen. 

They’re relaxed around Irina, too - they adapted to her change much faster than they did so with him. That’s good, because it’s Irina’s job. She can’t fight, and her skillset largely relies on espionage - she weaves into the lives of others and gets their guard down despite previous grievances. She’s possibly one of the most dangerous women in the world all because no one remembers that fact.

Funnily enough, it even works on Karasuma, who by far should be the most guarded around them. Karasuma still eyes Emmitt with a wariness but has seemed to forgotten that Irina was his very willing accomplice. The dumb blonde stereotype certainly is a blessing.

She’s currently beating him at checkers. Although Gakushuu also beats him at checkers, and not because Emmitt lost on purpose in the way that older siblings do to cater to the younger. No, he was just bad at checkers. It was never a necessary skillset for assassination.

“You’re making the rules up,” Emmitt complains.

“No I’m not,” Irina sniffs.

She wasn’t. Either that or Gakushuu’s fucking with him. Emmitt doesn’t think he and Irina were in touch, but at the same time Gakushuu always jumps at the opportunity to mess around (and he does it well too, lying without context.) Little brat.

\--

“The kids are going to outer space.”

“They are going to what?!” Gakushuu gapes at Emmitt. “What the fuck.”

“Hijack a space station,” Emmitt says. He shrugs. 

“That is illegal,” Gakuho complains, from where he’s trudging behind them. 

“You’re the one to talk about legality,” Emmitt says.

They make it in time for the final sendoff. The class pauses in their well wishes and turns to the newcomers.

“I’m not here to stop you,” Gakuho says, arms crossed. He turns to Karasuma. “That is supposed to be your job.”

Karasuma shrugs. 

Gakushuu puts his head on the side of Emmitt’s shoulder. “That’s nice.”

Emmitt looks down. “We can go to space if you want.”

Gakuho says, “what?” 

“How are they going to hijack the space station?” Gakushuu asks.

Emmitt turns to Irina.

She’s holding her nails out and squinting at them against the light, waiting for them to dry. “They wrote the word bomb on a packet of red bean paste.”

“What the fuck?”

\--

Of course, it’s all for naught. No government would let Sensei slip through their fingers. 

**Everybody's story has an ending, no matter how invincible they seem, even if it's your teacher you'd never thought you'd lose in the first place - you'd almost expected him to one day walk up behind you and hit you over the head and say "great job" for catching him off guard before you go on again together, because you didn't think any prison could have held him anyways (but sometimes that prison is twenty eight children, and sometimes it's just one.)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Irina is afraid of Emmitt. She tries her best to not seem like she is. Their assassination fortes lie in completely different fields and it would be inaccurate to say that Emmitt is the best assassin in every regard (I’m doubtful he’s trained in honeypot and he surely won’t have much success with straight men/gay women in that regard even if he was). Emmitt is, however, the better killer with a higher kill-count. Do they get along? Well, Irina likes flowers and Emmitt likes flowers, so yes. (jk) Imagine Irina to be spooked by Emmitt the same way Karma was spooked by Nagisa’s bloodlust at the beginning, and Irina’s morals are not as grey as she would like. Her skillset is getting along with everyone, or at least pretending she does - keep your enemies close or something like that. But Emmitt has a fondness for childish blond kids now so Irina is essentially his little skittish sister.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:  
> Personally, I thought that the death of Reaper 2.0 in canon was sadder than Koro-sensei's death. I'm not saying that because I don't like Koro-sensei (you all know I don't). 2.0 was a terrible terrible person, he was a serial killer and he definitely deserved to die.   
> I just didn't like that it was Koro that killed him, because Koro was his abuser. I know the distinction isn't clear on who was the victim (they're all murderers) but it made me sad, okay? Because Koro was supposed to be his mentor/parental figure who never did by him right and finally Koro got to kill him, and all 2.0 wanted in the end was for his mentor to acknowledge him. (It would have been akin to if 3-E thanked Gakuhou for slapping Gakushuu because Gakushuu was their bully.)  
> And it was such a beautiful scene, too, and 2.0 just wished for Koro to see him. And Koro promised him that they would be disciple and master in their next life - what a foolish thing to promise, but I think 2.0 would have said yes to it anyways. After all, he could have washed his hands off anything Koro related whenever he wanted, but each time he went running back.

**You never thought you’d miss someone you’ve spent so long hating, but you hated them because you wished they loved you back**

“So they’ve finally got him trapped,” Emmitt says tonelessly. He watches the laser over the hill by Kunugigaoka. “It’s a long time coming, is what it is.”

Nagisa is looking up at him. “You really won’t miss Koro-sensei?”

Emmitt looks over all the children. They’ve paused in their conversations, waiting for his answer. They’re a foolish bunch, wandering straight into the government’s capture.

“I betrayed him and sold him out to be captured,” Emmitt says. He frowns. “Although, to be honest, I would have expected him to break out of whatever facility he would have been held in. I had not entertained the possibility of his permanent, ah, loss.”

The students look solemn. “What do we do?”

“Whatever suits you,” Emmitt says. 

He goes back up the hill. He finds himself a little melancholy, and he wishes to pay Sensei some last respects, if any. He comes upon Sensei tirelessly working at yearbooks for the 3-E kids, and he looks pleasantly surprised at Emmitt’s arrival. “Ah, my little disciple.”

“Master,” Emmitt says, slipping smoothly into English. 

“Come,” Master says. “Sit with me.”

Emmitt does. He watches Master write at the books, and he does a quick tally of them - oh. “You’re writing me one, too.”

“Of course I am,” Master says gently. “You know. I’ve been thinking… I was never a very good teacher to you.”

“You taught me everything I know,” Emmitt says.

“Yes, but,” Master’s tentacles flail abortively, and he pauses. He looks at Emmitt. “You’ve become a master in your own right, your skills are - legendary. I am… proud of you.”

Emmitt’s eyes widen. He doesn’t say a word.

“I have been getting easier at saying that, since my time with 3-E,” Master says. “I am proud of all my students… even you, Emmitt.”

“Don’t call me that,” Emmitt says quietly.

Emmitt was Gakushuu's name for him. Not Master's. It was something Emmitt had to himself, for himself, because Master never called him anything else.

"Emmitt," Master repeats.  “Gakushuu. He is good for you. I’m glad.” He puts a tentacle on Emmitt’s shoulder. “I'm happy you found him."

Emmitt looks away. "Technically, he found me."

"I guess we all needed a middle school kid - or a class of - to humble us," Master says, almost wistfully.

Emmitt snaps. "I was a kid! I was," he cuts himself off, and looks away again. 

"Oh," Master says. He sounds sad. "I know. I should never have..."

"The thing about the flowers," Emmitt gets out, he hates himself for the crack in his voice. "Did you mean it?"

"I was going to kill you," Master says, abruptly. "I was... negligent. I didn't realize there was a witness. I was going to kill you-"

"Did you mean it?" Emmitt asks again, slightly quicker.

"I made a mistake," Master says, "I-"

"Did you mean it?!"

"I should never have picked you up, I should never have-"

"Because I doomed you to this death sentence-"

"I never hated you!-"

"I wish you did!"

There's a long silence.

Then Master reaches a tentacle to place lightly on Emmitt's shoulder, and Emmitt roughly shrugs it off. 

"I..." Master looks down. "We have never hugged. I never realized it until now."

Emmitt sighs. "It's too late for that." 

"It's..." Master looks down at his tentacles. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

This isn't Master. Koro-sensei is the teacher of the 3-E kids. Emmitt's teacher was someone who died that very night Emmitt chose to turn his back on him.

"Perhaps we could be Master and Disciple again, in another life… I would miss you. I would love to teach you again, and I’ll do better.”

Emmitt wants to say... nothing. He shakes his head. “I hate you,” he says, the only thing he has left to say.

Master smiles at him like he knows. 

\--

The 3-E kids are crying, crying. Emmitt looks over them, and they look towards him for direction.

“I already killed my Sensei,” he says. “It’s time for you all to kill yours.”

\--

Somehow, despite himself, when everything is over… 

...he climbs into Gakushuu’s bedroom in the Asanos’ house. Gakushuu is there, (Emmitt had told him to go home for the time being, because he trusts Gakuhou enough to keep Gakushuu safe when he can’t, in some respects at least). Gakushuu startles at the entrance but he’s not asleep yet. He watched the beam hit Kunugigaoka. Emmitt hugs him, for a long time, and there’s no one to say it if he cries.

**And so one day the crescent moon disappears, and Emmitt lies down on the r** **ooftop, and he thinks he can almost hear Master telling him to look for the brightest star if he’s lost in the dark and it will help him find his way home.**

**And so,**

“I still don’t understand,” Emmitt says, loudly, “how they let you set up a new school after what you’ve done.”

“Persuasive speaking,” Gakuhou snarks at him. Emmitt doesn’t know how they started living together. Gakuho had been reluctant (to put it in the nicest way possible) to let Gakushuu leave again once he’d stepped back into the house, and Emmitt had begrudgingly admitted had that much empty space at the Asano’s that Gakuhou didn’t deserve. He’d ended his lease prematurely, earning mischievous looks from Irina - who had no right to say anything, considering she’d somehow convinced Karasuma to let her move in with him. 

He supposes they’re somewhat cordial now, as much as he’d loath to admit it. Gakuhou keeps berating him for dragging dead animals into the house like a badly trained house-cat, smugly secure in his continued existence based solely off the fact that Gakushuu still wanted him around. 

Despite his best efforts, Gakushuu had chosen to join Kunugigaoka High School anyways. It’s acceptable, Emmitt thinks, considering Gakuhou is no longer in charge there. He also became fast friends (rivals?) with Akabane, which, Emmitt’s not sure how to feel about that. 

“You,” Emmitt starts, and Gakushuu pads into the room, looking appropriately disgruntled for 8am on a Saturday morning.

“Why are you both yelling at each other so early?” He says. Gakushuu’s grown into his teenager-ly habits, which included sleeping in at any possible moment. It’s encouraged by Gakuhou’s sudden lax parenting. Emmitt thinks he’s getting lazy, but he bites his tongue commenting on it. Gakushuu looks happier, which is already good enough in his book.

“We are not  _ yelling _ ,” Emmitt says.

“I heard you from my room,” Gakushuu says. “One floor up.”

Emmitt scowls. “Stop sleeping in, then.”

“The boy can sleep in on weekends if he wants to,” Gakuhou says. Emmitt glares at him.

“See?” Gakushuu says. 

“I’ll kill you,” Emmitt says. “I’ll kill both of you. I’ll make it look like a murder suicide.” He shoots Gakuhou a death look. “You’ll be the murderer.”

Gakushuu coughs into his hand. “Yeah, not suspicious at all.”

Emmitt growls. “Gakushuu Asano-”

“I'm going out, have fun together for lunch,” Gakushuu says quickly. "Bye."

**life goes on.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:   
> Emmitt holds the moniker of the world’s best assassin - man has high standards. He doesn’t want Gakushuu to sacrifice his happiness for the sake of grades, but he does want Gakushuu to keep a top spot and keep improving. That’s what assassins need to do, after all. Maybe a reason he found little-Gakushuu interesting is because a tiny child came up to him and started going off about how he was going to be the best in the world? And meanwhile Gakuhou is just being petty (and also some canon-appropriate character development). 
> 
> And here we have it, the end! 
> 
> Well, also not quite just yet! 
> 
> Which one of you all commented something along the lines of "Gakushuu's future relationships will have to survive yandere brother"... 👀

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far:  
> I know it's weird but I hope it's not... too weird? I enjoy this pair of idiots very much.
> 
> And I'd like to thank Skye for the name: Emmitt! Check her out on [skyestar7703 on ao3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyestar7703/pseuds/skyestar7703)!


End file.
